Public Sector Banks Lag Private Peers In Customer Service
BCSBI scores private banks higher than public sector banks on compliance.
- Only 12 of India’s 51 banks scored high in customer service.
- IDBI Bank was the only state-owned lender that received a ‘high’ rating.
- RBL Bank led the list with a rating of 95.
Only one public sector bank has been rated ‘high’ on compliance by the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI) compared to eight private banks which feature on the list, according to a survey released by the board on Tuesday.
IDBI Bank was the only state-owned lender that received a ‘high’ rating of 88. Private sector lender RBL Bank’s score was the highest at 95, followed by Yes Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank and DCB Bank.
Among the worst rated banks were state-owned lenders such as Punjab and Sindh Bank, State Bank of Patiala, Andhra Bank, Punjab National Bank and United Bank of India. Foreign banks such as HSBC India, Citibank and Standard Chartered were also rated above public sector banks in the survey.
The BCSBI monitors the retail businesses of banks and sets standards for it.
The BCSBI survey looked at parameters such as information dissemination, transparency, customer centricity, grievance redressal and customer feedback to give an aggregate rating. Any bank with an aggregate rating of 85 and above got a ‘high’ rating.
According to AC Mahajan, chairman of the board, the average score of banks has been dropping, which is a matter of concern.
While expecting the banks to improve their Code Compliance over the previous scores, in view of trends in the last few years, it is a matter of concern that the overall average score has fallen from 78 to 77 when compared to 2015 survey. Not only have overall average scores fallen, even some banks have been downgraded.AC Mahajan, Chairman, BCSBI
For purposes of this survey, the board visited 2,733 bank branches across the country and interviewed 8,485 customers, Mahajan said.
“About 20 percent of the branches that we visited were in rural and semi-urban areas, while the rest were in urban areas,” he said.
According to the survey, 15 banks were rated ‘below average’ on information dissemination, eight for lack of transparency, one each for inadequate grievance redressal and customer centricity. However, no bank was rated ‘below average’ due to customer feedback.
The reason behind this dichotomy was that customer feedback was largely dependent on perception of the bank among its customers, rather than ensuring compliance, Mahajan explained.
“It is unlikely that the survey would be influenced by any biases as the respondents are spread across the country,” he added.