Tata Communications Payment Solutions: The Indicash White-Label ATM Network

In June 2012, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sought to further financial inclusion in India by permitting non-bank corporate bodies to roll out “white-label” automated teller machine (WLA) networks. Unfortunately, most licensed operators soon found that the number of customers using the white-label machines was lower than anticipated, while the costs of installation, operation, and maintenance were higher than projected, and the revenues received from card-issuing agencies (i.e., banks) were inadequate to ensure viability of the business proposition. However, one operator, Tata Communications Payment Solutions Limited (TCPSL), rolled out its “Indicash” network very quickly, installing over 7,000 units in about 33 months, accounting for close to 60 per cent of all WLA installations by March 2016. Yet by June 2016, in what seemed like a reversal, TCPSL was put up for sale at an estimated valuation of between INR10–13.5 billion. In attracting potential buyers of the Indicash network, how could TCPSL leverage its accomplishments with the WLAs to make a sale? What would attract a strategic buyer to the WLAs?