Five public sector banks - Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, United Bank of India and Syndicate Bank - are set to formalise their grand ATM network sharing alliance - CashTree.

Beginning August 1, when the network will be fully operationalised, customers of these banks will not only benefit from the low Rs 10 per transaction cost, the lowest charged by any of the bank(s) operating ATMs, but also have access to a countrywide network of 3,000 ATMs to transact business from by the end of March 2004.

With each bank having its own 'ATM Switch', interconnectivity among the ATMs is being established at no additional capital expenditure as India Switch Company will be the service provider that will enable transaction switching among the banks. A formal service level agreement is being signed on Saturday at Bangalore among the banks and ISC.

Initially the 700 ATMs from the alliance will go online. In September this is expected to swell to 1,200 as Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra and Dena Bank are expected to join the alliance.

"We have pegged transaction costs low to encourage customers to use the alternate banking delivery channel," said VSR Murthy, general manager, Union Bank of India.

Henceforth, if a Union Bank customer uses a Bank of India ATM then the latter will get Rs 8.10 per transaction, while ISC will get the balance.

Swadhan, which will be wound up December, charges Rs 35 per transaction.

"Technology as also transaction testing has been done successfully. Several co-operative banks, who are with Swadhan, old private sector banks and a foreign bank will be switching over to CashTree," D Krishnamurthy, general manager, Bank of India, said.

Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank are also seeking to form a network on the lines of CashTree.