In the initial phase, the company activated 3,000 units, and expects another 3,000 activations in the coming months. Prior to launch MoneyOnMobile had 5,000 MOM ATM units operating in the field.

This new biometric MOM ATM leverages both the Open Banking APIs of our banking partners and the Indian government's national identity system known as Aadhaar. Consumers can receive cash from their bank account by scanning their fingerprint on the new biometric reader – the fingerprint is linked to the consumer's bank account, and substitutes for the debit card.

Participating MOM Merchants provide the cash from their till just as they do when using the company's existing MOM ATM and a debit card swipe. MoneyOnMobile's payment platform connects our retailers to our banking partners and the Aadhaar system making the entire transaction seamless.

The Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS), a Government of India initiative, was launched to empower a bank's customer to use Aadhaar as his/her identity to access their Aadhaar linked bank account. Using AePS, the bank account holder can perform basic banking transactions like cash deposit, cash withdrawal and balance inquiry.

"Our goal for 2018 is to expand our MOM ATM product line and the total number of deployments, and this biometric-based MOM ATM cash-out solution is a strong step towards achieving that goal. Before the rollout we had roughly 5,000 MOM ATM units operating. We expect that this figure will go well beyond 11,000 with the new biometric-based MOM ATM in the coming months, and bring us closer to our goal of having 30,000 MOM ATM units operating by the end of 2019," says Harold Montgomery, CEO and Chairman, MoneyOnMobile."

Ranjeet Oak, Head–India Operations, MoneyOnMobile said, "The launch of AePS-based biometric service by MoneyOnMobile, will enable our underbanked consumers to have easy and quick access to their bank accounts just by visiting one of our enabled retail partners spread across 700 plus cities across India. As this service was much awaited by our retailers, we are pleased that we were able to swiftly adapt to their recommendations."

"We are excited to launch this AePS-based MOM ATM to add yet another service which will provide last mile financial services to the over 600 million underbanked consumers in India. Our retailers, as well as MoneyOnMobile, earn revenue based on the size of the cash-out transaction, resulting in a positive impact on our MOM ATM revenue," said Will Dawson, Chief Operating Officer, MoneyOnMobile.

The process for a consumer to withdraw cash using an AePS –based MOM ATM is similar to the current handheld MOM ATM, but instead of handing over a card that is swiped through a machine, the customer places their fingerprint on a biometric reader. Once the system authenticates their ID, the retailer can process their cash-out request in the same manner as the handheld MOM ATM.