State Bank of India Awards Major Contract to Giesecke & Devrient

The international technology group Giesecke & Devrient offers products and solutions for currency processing that meet a broad spectrum of customer requirements. The State Bank of India (SBI), the largest bank in India with 230,000 employees in about 9,000 branch offices, placed an order with Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) for more than 1,700 banknote processing systems. This order includes the delivery of machines as well as a 3 year maintenance contract. The entire order is valued at € 30 million. Worldwide, cash levels are growing three to four percent every year. At the same time, customers are demanding higher banknote qualities and, therefore, higher standards for quality checks. G&D will equip the branch offices of the State Bank of India in the 29 Indian states with Numeron or BPS 200 machines. The machines count banknotes, check their authenticity and sort the banknotes according to fitness levels. “Our machines are sold on the merits of quality, technology, and performance,” said Dr. Walter Schlebusch, member of G&Ds Management Board and responsible for the Banknote segment, when commenting on the award for the contract. “Especially the Numeron has proven to be particularly suitable for the Indian market since banknote sorting is often performed in very close areas. The compact and functional construction of the Numeron, along with its high degree of reliability and sorting speed, was the deciding factor for the customer’s selection.” Along with the Numeron, G&D will also deliver two-hundred BPS 200 machines. The BPS 200 is the larger banknote processing system. This system can be used to efficiently count, check and sort up to 35,000 banknotes per hour. The BPS 200 detects even small amounts of soil, tape or tears. This is used to sort out clean banknotes for cash machines and to separate banknotes of insufficient quality for destruction at the central bank. “G&Ds sales point was reliable technology and an excellent local infrastructure,” said Alexander Seeländer, General Manager of G&D India Pvt.Ltd. “To be able to offer proper service everywhere in the country – in remote mountain areas as well as on one of the tropical islands – G&D is hiring 140 additional field engineers on site. G&D is the only supplier in India with a comprehensive sales and service organization.”