Electronic Cheque Acceptance System

I had been to HDFC Magarpatta city branch to deposit the cheque issued to me by someone. I was all set to fill in the cheque deposit slip and submit it to a specified counter. Consequently, the banker on the other side would collect the cheque, stamp the slip and return me the acknowledgement slip.

However, things did not go as I had thought. I was introduced to a machine by the security guard. It had an impressive display and the software was easy to use, especially for people who frequently use ATMs. I keyed in the account number and inserted the cheque into the designated slot. The cheque was scanned and an acknowledgement was printed. I collected the acknowledgement slip that had the scanned image of the deposited cheque and happily left the bank.

While riding the bike, I thought as to why do they require a separate machine for this task. Why cannot they extend the ATMs to accept cheques? May be the next generation ATM machines would have this facility too.