SBI picks 2 US firms for point-of-sale terminals deal

State Bank of India has zeroed-in on two US-based companies -Visa international and Elavon Inc as joint venture partners for setting up a network of point-of-sales(POS)terminals across the country.The two foreign partners will help India's biggest lender with payments technology solutions for its ambitious plan to roll out six lakh POS terminals at merchant establishments over the next five years.POS terminals are devices seen in retail and hospitality establishments for processing credit cards ,debit cards,smart cards and other electronically submitted transactions in a traditional retail environment.A retail POS system includes a computer ,monitor,cash drawer,receipt printer,customer display,barcode scanner, integrated card processing system,a signature capture device and a customer pin-pad device. The merchant swipes the customer's card at the terminal or keys-in payment information and the terminal does the rest.In the future ,the bank is also envisaging use of POS for mobile top-ups,utility bill payments,booking of railway and movie tickets.(BL06052010)