SBI to deploy 1.5 lakh card payment terminals next fiscal

State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, will install about 1.5 lakh point of sale (POS) terminals for debit and credit card payment across the country over the next fiscal, in a move aimed at increasing its fee-based income.

In its request for proposal (RFP), the bank said the present EOI (expressions of interest) was for the purchase of around 1.35-1.50 lakh POS terminals across the country during the first year of operations or 2010-11. These will be used in the managed services during the warranty period or the first year of deployment.

The last date for submission of bids is 25 January, the bank said. It added that in the first five years of its operations, it planned to deploy 6 lakh terminals.

Last year, SBI had floated an RFP for selection of joint venture (JV) partner for merchant acquiring business for which the selection process is at an advanced stage.

A wholly-owned subsidiary would carry out the merchant acquiring business that would include acquisition of bank identification numbers (BINs) from the schemes as well as managing services for PoS terminals among others.

The managed services would cover deployment of POS terminals at customer location, their replacement, merchant training and maintenance among others.