In a first for any domestic bank, small-sized lender has started an Aadhaar-based ATM usage facility wherein a customer can transact using his biometric details instead of the PIN.

"We have started the first ATM in the country which operates using the Aadhaar data. One can do a transaction without the card as well," the bank's Managing Director and Chief Executive Murali Natrajan told PTI.

The user can key-in the 12-digit Aadhaar number or swipe the card at an automated teller machine (ATM) to start a transaction, but at the stage of confirming the identity, it requires biometric details rather than the PIN.

"All you have to do to authenticate is put your finger on the scanner. This is better than PIN, which can be forgotten because of multiple bank accounts," he said.

Seeding the bank account with the Aadhaar number will be essential before a customer can use the facility, he said, adding that initially, only customers will be able to make use of the service.

The solution has been developed in-house and involves connecting up with the Aadhaar server to authenticate the identity of the customer every time a transaction is initiated, he said.

Natrajan said it is a comparatively inexpensive solution and the bank, which currently has 400 ATMs, is targeting to cover its entire network under the system within a year.

The first of the Aadhaar-based ATMs has been installed at its corporate office in the megapolis' Lower Parel area and Natrajan said it will be waiting for a month more for the technology to stabilise before a mass rollout.

He added that it has great potential at the POS (point-of-sale) terminals at the merchants' end to make transactions easier and also for business correspondents.

Enrolments under Aadhaar are set to cross the 100 crore mark soon. The data is being used for a slew of purposes like opening bank accounts and the government's direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.

Natrajan said he sees the banking industry coming out with similar technologies so that ATM transactions can be carried out without a card.