The HMA Group straddles the entire banking scene—from hardware to software, and even services. Harish K Murthi, chairman of the HMA Group, spoke to Rajneesh De about the group’s activities and its future plans

What are the different business streams where the HMA Group currently operates?
HMA Group is a consortium of four different companies, with each company offering niche solutions to the retail banking sector. HMA Data Systems, the parent company, offers security solutions to the banking sector. Diebold HMA, a joint venture between Diebold of USA and HMA Data Systems, is one of the largest ATM suppliers in India with over 3000+ installations.

The group introduced India’s first private shared payment network systems (SPNS) through India Switch Company (ISC), allowing millions to transact through a common network, and has recently introduced a total, one-stop outsourcing solution called Total Retail Infrastructure Management Services(TRIMS). This solution helps banks and financial institutions to outsource their entire gamut of retail delivery channels. The software arm of the HMA Group, HMA STARware (HMAS), floated in the year 2000, offers the ‘Star’ suite of products, which consists of 11 different easily customisable software products that have been installed in over 50+ banks in India and South East Asia. In addition, HMAS also offers open architecture switching solutions through its alliance with Oasis Technology of Canada.

What according to you would be the next big thing to happen in the Indian retail banking sector?
Outsourcing! If you are a keen observer of the market, you would notice that every sector, including big industrial sectors like car manufacturers, have gone for outsourcing their requirements. Over a period, those players who have gone aggressive on outsourcing have found that it saves them not only cost and time but helps them concentrate on their core business area, a key survival necessity in these times of economic downturns.

What is your current position in India and what are your growth strategies for the coming year?
HMA, as a group crossed the magic Rs 1,000 million landmark in the financial year 2001-02, a period that was marked by a drastic downturn in the Indian market. Our focus would be to provide total outsourcing solutions to the retail banking sector in the form of TRIMS. TRIMS is an amalgamated effort of the whole group with Diebold HMA taking care of the hardware part, HMA STARware taking care of the software solutions part and ISC taking care of the services part. The first order that we received was from Bank of India for setting up ATM centres at various locations. The project is progressing at a fast pace and we have received a positive response from many banks in India to provide a similar outsourcing solution for them. The other area of focus would be on our open architecture switching solution—Oasis IST/Switch which has garnered a 33 percent market share within 18 months of its introduction to the Indian market.

As a vendor, what solutions do you provide on the ATM front?
Diebold HMA pioneered the introduction of ATMs in India and has the largest service infrastructure with over 49 offices and support in 69 locations. Along with regular ATM implementation and service backup, the company now offers a total managed service called Total Implementation Solution (TIS). This allows a single window shopping for banks for all their ATM related needs. All areas—from procurement of ATMs to day-to-day management is taken care by us.

What is the market size for ATMs in India? What is your company’s market share?
The market size for ATMs installed and ordered in India is 4,558. There has been a tremendous pace in growth in the last few years, particularly in 1999. In that year, in terms of units, Diebold HMA sold nearly 1,000 units as against 791 machines (which includes sale of 120 units in 1999 itself) until the year 1999. This is a record growth, which is more than the combined sales in the last five years. In 2000 and 2001, we have grown our ATM business by a whopping 100 percent. We expect it to grow at a rate of 80 percent annually in the next couple of years. We currently hold 56 percent market share