HINDUSTANTIMES, MUMBAI 16 | business | MONDAY,MARCH 29, 2010 India’s best user’s choice banks HT-MaRSCONSUMER SATISFACTION SURVEY

COMPETITIVE PERSPECTIVE Here’s what consumers like, and don’t like, about banks. OVERALL EXPERIENCE WITH BANK STAFF Score Axis Bank 761 ICICI Bank 750 Satisfaction HDFCBank 750 CanaraBank 742 IOB 733 SBI 733 Union Bank 731 Indian Bank 731 Syndicate Bank 728 UCO Bank 728 PNB 727 Central Bank 721 Bank of Baroda 720 Corpn Bank 717 vault Bank of India 716 OBC 715 Dena Bank 715 Allahabad Bank 713 POSITIVE NOTE Axis Bank edges past Vijaya Bank 701 United Bank 692 HDFCBank andICICI Bank to the top OVERALL BRANCH FACILITIES spot. Andyes,state-owned banksare Axis Bank 751 ICICI Bank 746 HDFCBank 746 rightuptherewith the best. CanaraBank 738 Indian Bank 736 PNB 732 SBI 730 Syndicate Bank 726 UCO Bank 726 Union Bank 721 Central Bank 719 Bank of Baroda 715 Bank of India 714 IOB 711 Corpn Bank 707 Allahabad Bank 705 Vijaya Bank 703 Dena Bank 700 OBC 698 United Bank 695 ACCOUNT OPENING PROCESS ILLUSTRATION: ABHIMANYU SINHA Vijaya Bank 776 Axis Bank 771 Arnab Mitra INDIA’S BEST BANKS HDFCBank 761 ■ [email protected] Public sector banks have beaten their privatesector THE SECOND WAVE Indian Bank 751 inally,the darkhorse ranaway counterparts in most cities. If Thereisn’t really much to choose between the top SBI 749 with the prize. 6-7 banks. With slight improvements in service OF CONSUMER ICICI Bank 746 Axis Bank, which many only theycan raise their minimum Union Bank 741 people hadwritten off afew standards,theywill giveprivate standards, anyofthem can edge ahead of the pack. PNB yearsago,has been rated BANKING IS HERE 738 India’s best bank, aheadof banks arun fortheir money. OBC 734 733 morefamous and in-the-news RAGHU ROY, MD,MaRs Bank Score Tamal Bandyopadhyay Central Bank rivals likeHDFCBank and ■ [email protected] IOB 733 ICICI Bank. AXIS BANK 747 Allahabad Bank 726 F The first Hindustan scoreof780.But consumersin CICI Bank, India’s largest private United Bank 722 Times—MaRS Consumer Bhubaneswar arethe most satisfied HDFCBank 742 sector lender,has recently with- Satisfaction Survey on Banking,which overall. Orissa’s capital has the high- drawnits free lifetime credit card Corpn Bank 714 I CanaraBank 713 covered9,486 respondents across 18 est indexscore of 812. ICICI Bank 740 scheme,signaling anew phase in Indian cities, threw up this and sever- Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Delhi are consumerbankinginthe world’ssec- Bank of Baroda 706 al other interesting findings. The sur- other cities with highlevels of satis- ond-fastest growing economy. Indian Bank 738 Bank of India 692 vey did not coverforeign banks. faction. This speaks as much of these Till the collapse of US investment 686 Though no public sector bank has cities as of the banks rated. One rea- Indian bank Lehman BrothersinSeptember Dena Bank ranked among the three best banks son could be thatnorth Indians are Overseas Bank 733 2008, salaried people in the metros had Syndicate Bank 682 overall, consumersin14cities ranked moredemanding customersthan oth- State Bank as manycredit cards in their wallets UCO Bank 671 various state-owned banks as the best. ersand much morevocal about voic- of India 733 as theywantedand did not need to pay Indian Bank emergedthe top-ranked ing their opinions. This mayhaveforced anyfees formost of them. public sector bank, with an overall rank banks to provide better services. CanaraBank 733 ICICI Bank joined the game in 2005 of fourth. State Bank of India, the 800- It is also,perhaps, no coincidence and soon overtook Citibank, the then TURNAROUND TIME AT BANKS Punjab pound gorilla in the banking sector, thatKolkata, Hyderabadand marketleader.But the aggression took Indian Bank 745 National Bank 728 wasastep behind, sharing the joint Ahmedabadappear to be cities with its toll. As consumerslost jobs and faced UCO Bank 734 fifth place with Indian Overseas Bank. much lowersatisfaction levels. Union Bank of salary cuts, payment defaults pushed 726 HDFCBank 734 Says Raghu Roy,managing direc- ConsumersinPatna, which has an India up the industry’sstressed assets. tor,MaRS, HT’s knowledgepartner indexscore of 617, however, arethe As interest rates dropped and the CanaraBank 731 forthis survey:“Privatebanks have least satisfied. UCO Bank 726 financial system wasawash with liq- ICICI Bank 728 done well. But as youcan see,theyare The survey also indicates thatthe Central Bank 722 uidityearly this century,banks sold IOB 724 not the No. 1inmost places. Overall, qualityofserviceatpublic sector banks of India mortgages, auto and personal loans, SBI 716 theyscore forbeing consistent. Clearly, vary widely from citytocity, while their throwing due diligencetothe wind. theymaintain aminimum standard privatesector rivals largely gave cus- Bank of Baroda 715 With India Inc. finding other avenues Central Bank 712 PNB 710 and have alow dispersion indexoncus- tomersmuch morehomogenous qual- Syndicate Bank 715 to raise money, banks were saddled tomer satisfaction.” itystandards. with funds thattheyneeded to deploy. Union Bank 707 Urban Indians gave banks an aver- “The study shows thatpublic sec- Vijaya Bank 713 In amad scramble to win newcus- Bank of Baroda 707 ageindexscore of 727out of amaxi- tor banks can deliver on customer sat- tomers, therewere‘mis-selling’ and Bank of India 699 mum possible 1,000.Thoughitisdif- isfaction. Theyhavebeaten their pri- Allahabad Bank 709 ‘mis-pricing’. Sincecredentials of con- Syndicate Bank 699 ficult to interpret this figureinthe vatesector counterparts in most cities. Oriental Bank sumerswerenot alwayschecked, urban 694 absenceofany comparable previous If only theycan raise their minimum of Commerce 708 consumers startedoverstretching Allahabad Bank figure(this being the first survey), it standards, theywill giveprivatebanks themselves —buying cars, houses, hol- OBC 689 doesseemtoindicate thatcustomers arun fortheir money,”saysRoy. Bank of India 707 idays, white goods and shares —and Axis Bank 685 arefar from satisfied with the servic- Interestingly,thereare no private repaying in equated monthly install- Vijaya Bank 680 es provided by their bankers. banks among the top 10 in Lucknow. Corporation 702 ments. When the slowdownclaimed Bank 678 The survey showedthat38per cent, This, and the fact thatpublic sector jobs, theyjust stoppedrepaying. Corpn Bank or almost two-fifth, of consumerswould banks topped satisfaction levels in 14 Dena Bank 698 It wasatime bomb waiting to United Bank 676 happily changetheir bank. And yes, of the 18 cities, indicates thatlarge sec- explode.And the fuse went off when Dena Bank 672 theywould not recommend their bank tions of the middle class, eveninmet- United Bank 691 Lehman Brotherscollapsed. to friends and relatives. That’sastelling ros—but especially in the smaller of India While banks piled up badassets, acomment on satisfaction levels as cities —still prefer government-owned 9,486 respondents across 18 cities manynon-banking financecompanies ATMUSERS any. banks, despite their shabbyimage and were either forcedtoshut shop or go Among the largercities, Bangalore often indifferent servicestandards. slowoncustomer acquisition, and wait SBI 749 has the most satisfied bank customers, It also shows thatnoindividual bank forbuyers. HDFCBank 748 whogavebanks in the cityahighindex really commands customer loyalty Now, with the economybackonthe ICICI Bank 742 across the length and breadth of the rails, consumerlending has resumed, PNB 733 SURVEY SUMMARY country. but with caution.This also coincides Axis Bank 730 Thatshould giveprivatesector with afew newcredit information Indian Bank 724 ■ Axis Bank has been rated India’sbest banks some food forthought. bureaus —arepositoryofinformation bank,ahead of more famousand in- about the credit historyofborrowers. Bank of India 721 the-news rivals likeHDFCBank and Forthe retail consumer, thereisvir- United Bank 721 ICICI Bank. OTHER STORIES tually no credit rating system. CanaraBank 720 But thingswill changesoon. With the ■ Indian Bank emergedthe top-ranked PAGE 28 OBC 719 public sector bank. introduction of credit scores for AXIS BANK: TheAxis of excellence IOB 711 ■ Urban Indians gave banksarelatively customers, bankswill decideontheir HDFCBANK: HDFCBank builds on lowindexscoreof727 out of amaxi- creditworthiness. The newbureaus will Allahabad Bank 709 consistency mum possible 1,000. join Credit Information Bureau (India) UCO Bank 706 ICICI BANK: Thepioneer that created ■ Bangalorehas the most satisfied Ltd (Cibil), which has been operating Central Bank 700 and rode the retail boom since2004. bank customers, who gave banksinthe Vijaya Bank 700 city ahigh indexscoreof780. PAGE 29 The second wave of consumer bank- Bank of Baroda 698 ■ Patna, with an indexscoreof617,is INDIAN BANK: Backfromthe dead... ing will be awin-win situation forboth 697 the least satisfied city. and how consumers and banks. Worthy Corpn Bank ■ Thereare no private banksamong the customerswill be able to access cheap Union Bank 691 SBI BANK: Theelephant learns to credit and wiser with experience, top 10 in Lucknow. dance Dena Bank 689 banks will stop wooing the not-so-wor- 680 thyones. Syndicate Bank Graphics: SANJAY KAPOOR HINDUSTANTIMES, MUMBAI MONDAY,MARCH 29, 2010 | business | 17 India’s best banks User's Choice

CITY-WISE RANKINGS INTERVIEW No bank is aclear leader across the MANJU SRIVATSA country.Individual cities seem to have their ownpreferences. The Axis of excellence ‘Customers DELHI Score recognise we PNB 801 TURNAROUND Axis Bank hasestablished its newidentityinjust three years ICICI Bank 794 aretrying to HDFCBank 789 Sandeep Singh Central Bank 783 ■ [email protected] Indian Bank 779 improve’ Axis Bank 777 xis Bank is India’s best bank. Manju Srivatsa,president, retail CanaraBank 775 It edged out largerand high- banking,atAxis Bank, spoketo Punjab & er profile rivals such as HDFC Hindustan Times on the bank’sfocus Sind Bank 773 A Bank and ICICIBank —by on customer satisfaction and how State Bank 772 very smallmargins. it plans to improve going forward. of India “The ambienceinAxis Bank branch- State Bank 767 es is cool and thereisalot of space,” Axis Bank has been ranked India’s of Patiala says Sani Rajan, aseniorpublicrela- best bank. Howdid youachievethis? tions executiveinMumbai and an Axis Traditionally, Bank customer formorethan four Axis Bank has MUMBAI years. been very strong- Indian Bank 752 Earlier known as UTI Bank, its exec- ly focused on cus- Bank of Baroda 751 utives and customerscredit the 2007 tomer satisfac- rebranding,last year’schangeinman- tion. We have Axis Bank 749 IOB agementand arenewedfocus on cus- maintained a 747 tomer servicefor the success. highleveloftrust, UCO Bank 746 Rajan also likes the bank’snew-found servicedelivery PNB 745 accessibility. and transparen- ICICI Bank 740 “The bank has branchesand ATMs cy.Wealso take HDFCBank 739 in all prominent places. Ever sinceit feedback from Bank of changedits name from UTI to Axis customersand Maharashtra 737 Bank,Ihaveseen amarkedchange in takeaction based SBI 736 servicequality.” on the feedback The bank wasamongthe first to received. Our launchoperations when the govern- customersrecognise thatand when- ■ Clients aremost satisfied with Axis Bank’s staff and overall facilities offered at its branches. RAJKRAJ/HT PHOTO KOLKATA ment allowednew privatebankstobe everwesee ascope forimprove- establishedinthe early 1990s. But ing allotment lottery of the Delhi “I do not knowwhatturnaround time ment we try to address it. Axis Bank 716 aggressivecompetitorssuch as ICICI Development Authorityin2008 as loan the customer is talking about,”says NEW NAME,NEW FAME SBI 704 Bank and HDFCBank soon racedfar to anyone on apayment of just around Manju Srivatsa, president, retail bank- ATMs have emergedasthe main HDFCBank 704 ahead. Rs 5,500. ing at Axis Bank. But she adds: “This ■ Axis Bank has been ranked best bank touch point with customers. Your Central Bank 700 The Hindustan Times-MaRS survey Achangeofguardatthe top –Shikha will be very empowering formetoknow in three cities —Kolkata, Guwahatiand bank is ranked No.5.How do you ICICI Bank 691 of 9,486 respondents from 18 cities Sharma took overasmanaging direc- and to address it.” Bangalore. plan to improvethis? UCO Bank 689 assessed customer satisfaction on tor in April 2009 —only reinforcedAxis The areas it needs to improve in are ■ It ranksamong the top 5banksinsix ATMs areavery strong point of cities. Indian Bank 689 aspects such as staff experience, branch Bank’s‘client focus’. clear. servicedelivery and we will focus ■ Axis Bank ranksNo. 1in“overall Union Bank facilities, automated teller machine The changes seem to have worked. It ranks fifth in terms of satisfaction moreonthem. Ourentirebusiness 686 experience with bank staff”, “overall IOB 676 (ATM) facilities and account opening According to the survey,clients are with ATMservices. State Bank of India model is to support all our branch- process, among others. most satisfied with Axis Bank’sstaff, and HDFCBank arethe two highest- branch facilities” and “experience with es with ATMs. Dena Bank 666 Three yearsago,the then UTI Bank overall facilities offered at its branch- ranked banks on this parameter. bank account statements”. sought to leave its past behind by chang- es and the provision of account state- Bangalorecustomersare most sat- ■ In turnaround time, it ranksapoor Thereisaninconsistencyinthe sat- ing its name and turning its focus to ments. The bank ranks second in cus- isfied with Axis Bank, and those in 16th out of 20 banks, the lowestrank isfaction levels of customers geo- building better relations with clients tomer satisfaction with its account open- Kolkataand Mumbai rank it second on anyparameter by abank ranked graphically.Why? CHENNAI overall in the top 5. PNB 791 and reaching out to areas wherebank- ing process. and thirdrespectively.But it ranks a We arestandardised in our service ■ Though it wasranked No.1in Vijaya Bank 790 ing services were still limited. But it still lags behind in terms of poor sixth in Delhi. delivery procedures. But because Forinstance, it offered to paythe turnaround time,orprocessing time Obviously,itwill have to address these Kolkata, it had better scores in Delhi, customer satisfaction is alot about Union Bank 788 refundable Rs 1.5 lakh registration forthe sanction of loans, and satisfac- lacunaeifitwants to hang on to its rank- Mumbai and Chennai among the met- the overall experienceatthe bank, Corpn Bank 784 moneyneeded to participate in ahous- tion of ATMusers. ing next year. ros. we will definitely address that. SBT 782 UCO Bank 781 HDFCBank 781 ICICI Bank 774 Axis Bank 772 The pioneer that HOW SATISFIEDARE INDIAN BANK CUSTOMERS? Lakshmi Vilas Bank 668 Overall satisfaction levels across the country seem quite low. Even the all- India average looks to be on the lowerside. JAIPUR createdand rode Bhubaneswar 812 Bangalore 780 Syndicate Bank 757 Axis Bank 740 Chandigarh 775 ICICI Bank 723 Ludhiana 772 HDFCBank 707 theretailboom Delhi 768 Bank of Baroda 706 Bank of India 692 Indore 761 Bank of 690 THINKING BIG ICICIBank clocksinatNo. 3 Guwahati Chandigarh Rajasthan Ludhiana 758 689 Chennai Delhi 753 SBBJ Sandeep Singh SBI 688 ICICI BANK IN DEMAND Jaipur Lucknow ■ [email protected] Lucknow Patna Guwahati 748 PNB 687 Ahmedabad Ranchi ■ ICICI Bank has been rated India’s Ranchi 744 t’sthe bank thatarguably created third-bestbankwithanoverallscore of Indore Raipur Kolkata —and rode —the boom in retail 740, only ashortdistance behind Axis Raipur Mumbai Bhubaneswar 742 HYDERABAD banking in the country.It’salso I Bank (747)and HDFCBank (742). ALLINDIA Hyderabad 727 the bank thatleveragedtechnolo- ■ It is the only bank to be ranked among SBI 763 gy and aggressivemarketing to come the top 5ineight cities —Delhi, Patna, Mumbai Bangalore 714 Indian Bank Chennai 756 from nowhereinthe late 1990sand Ahmedabad and Ludhiana (ranked No. ICICI Bank Jaipur 698 741 early 2000s to clinch the crownofthe 2), Hyderabad and Jaipur (No. 3), Cochin HDFCBank 739 largest privatesectorbank in India — Guwahati (No. 4) and Kolkata (No. 5). Cochin 692 Central Bank 737 and second-largest overall behindState ■ It has India’s second-largest network Kolkata 686 CanaraBank 724 Bank of India. of ATMs (about 4,900). Hyderabad State Bank of Look around… ask your colleagues… ■ ICICI Bank ranksNo. 2inparameters 684 Hyderabad 724 chancesare thatagood percentage of such as “overall experience with bank Ahmedabad 642 IOB 719 them have some ongoing relationship staff”, “overall branch facilities” and AndhraBank 716 with ICICI Bank —asanaccount hold- “experience with bank account state- Patna 617 Syndicate er,asaloan seeker,asacustomer(of ments”. Bank 702 home,autoorpersonal loans) or in GRAPHICS: SANJAY KAPOOR some other capacity. But ICICIBank,ranked India’s third “I don’t remember the last Ivisited best in the Hindustan Times-MaRS sur- abranch formybanking needs. Ido HDFCBank builds on consistency vey,isthe only one among the top 5 most of the thingsonlineorthrough CHANDIGARH banks not to have been ranked No. 1in ATMs,”hesays, adding: “I have faced Indian Bank 783 anyofthe 18 cities surveyed. no problem with the bank’sonline serv- STEADY SCORE HDFCBank 783 “The smaller the bank, the better is iceand the ATMfacilities in the past the servicedelivery,” says afinancial three years.” S.B. of Patiala 781 planner on condition of anonymity. ICICI Bank has 1,670branches and India’s second-largest PNB 780 “While ICICI Bank has been very good about 4,900ATMs spreadacross the privatesector bank is Axis Bank 779 at acquiring newcustomers, it has country —the second largest ATMnet- Punjab &Sind 779 lagged on the services delivery front.” work after State Bank of India. also the secondbest Bank But consumersinfour cities —Delhi, The bank, however, went through ICICI Bank 777 Patna, Ahmedabadand Ludhiana — some toughtimes in 2008. Therewere Sandeep Singh CanaraBank 767 did rank it at No. 2. And, it is the only rumoursabout its financial health. At ■ [email protected] SBI 765 bank to have been ranked within the one time,the ReserveBank of India Vijaya Bank 764 top 3insix different cities. hadtoassure the bank’sdepositorsthat onsumershaveranked it India’s This indicates aremarkable consis- the bank hadenoughliquidity. second bestbank. HDFCBank, tency of performance It has sinceworkedhardtorestore C the country’s second largest pri- There’sareason forthis popularity. customer faith and confidence. Recently, vatesectorbank,has emerged BHUBANESWAR ICICI Bank wasthe first in India to it announced severalmajor changes in just one rank belowthe pick of the pack, introducethe concept of floating rate its retail banking group. Axis Bank,inoverall customer satis- Canara Bank 844 home loans, the first to roll out an exten- Chanda Kochhar,who took overas faction in the Hindustan Times-MaRS SBI 834 sive, nationwide network of ATMs, managing director and CEO of ICICI survey of banks. Bank of Baroda 829 among severalother initiatives. Bank in 2009,isbelievedtobedriving It scored consistently on all the PNB 824 In thatsense,ICICI Bank has been efforts to changeits aggressiveimage parametersofcustomer satisfaction United Bank 822 the pioneer of retail banking in India. to one of acaring bank. and also hadconsistent scores across Varun Khandelwal, aMumbai-based However, HT could not explorethis most of the 18 cities surveyed. IOB 819 marketing professional working in a aspect further as the management of “WhatIreally likeabout HDFCBank ■ With 1,725 branches and morethan4,000 ATMs,HDFCBank hasagood reach. ICICI Bank 818 leading media house,issatisfied with ICICI Bank refused to comment on the is the helpful attitude of its staff.They DEEPAK HAZRA UCO Bank 813 the bank’sonline facilities. survey. aren’t pushyasinsome other banks, AndhraBank 811 but theyare just as effective,”saysS. icantlyoverthe past fewyears, espe- “A fter ICICI Bank, it wasprobably Shankar,aKolkata-based chartered cially afteracquiring Centurion Bank the second bank in the country to realise Indian Bank 811 accountant with aleading multinational of Punjab in 2008. The effects of the the importanceoftechnologyand audit firm, whohas dealingswith sev- acquisition arereflected in its strong invested aggressively on this front,” eral banks both in his personal and pro- presenceinPunjab —top ranks in the says Shankar. LUDHIANA fessional capacities. state capital Chandigarh, and major Then, it also has arichly deserved But whereitreally scored highisin business centreLudhiana. reputation as an ethical lender.“It does- HDFCBank 821 users’ satisfaction with its automated The bank’sconsistency across the n’tsend goons to recovermoney ICICI Bank 808 teller machine (ATM) network.Though servicedelivery fronts and across geog- from defaulters,”saysaDelhi-based PNB 804 it has asmaller ATMnetwork than its raphies puts it at the second place in financial planner whodeals with sev- Indian Bank 792 privatesector rival ICICI Bank, it overall ratings. But its presenceand per- eral banks. Syndicate Bank 786 ranks higher in satisfaction levels. In formanceinthe capitals of not-so-devel- This gives customersacomfort that fact, it ranked second, losing out by a oped states can be improvedfurther. translates into long-term relationships Punjab &Sind 786 Bank whisker —one point —toState Bank Forinstance, HDFCBank’sper- and good referral business. OBC 777 of India, which occupies the top slot on formanceinLucknowinUttar Pradesh, Thereisvery little separating HDFC State Bank of this count. Bhubaneswar in Orissa, Ranchi in Bank from the leadersonthe individ- Patiala 776 With 1,725branches across 771cities Jharkhand and Raipur in Chhattisgarh ual parameterssurveyed. Canit Bank of India 767 andanetwork of over4,000 ATMs, the is not too impressive. It could not score leapfrog aheadofthe competition? Bank of bank has agood reach. enoughtobeamong the top 10 banks The next Hindustan Times-MaRS Rajasthan 766 HDFCBank spreadits wingssignif- in these cities. survey will tell. HINDUSTANTIMES, MUMBAI 18 | business | MONDAY,MARCH 29, 2010 India’s best User's Choice banks

CITY-WISE RANKINGS Still aPSU, No bank is aclear leader across the Back from thedead… and how country.Individual cities seem to have through and their ownpreferences. REVIVAL STRATEGY INTERESTININDIAN BANK through BANGALORE Score Axis Bank 827 ■ It ranked first among public sector Aggressivemarketing Avijit Ghosal Bank of India 824 banksand fourthoverall ■ [email protected] IOB 805 andsmartpolicies have ■ Consumers in Mumbai, India’s Union Bank 802 financial capital, ranked it as the ajid Mohammad(name HDFCBank 797 country’s best bank. contributed to Indian changed) hadanopen- ICICI Bank 794 ■ Thereare massive variations in its S heart surgery in April 2009. CanaraBank 794 service quality across the country.As He has been spending every Bank’s turnaround Indian Bank manyasseven of 18 cities do not afternoon forthe past 10 days 787 MahuaVenkatesh rank it among the top 10 at the United Bank of India’s Syndicate Bank 786 KarnatakaBank 784 ■ [email protected] ■ Indian Bank has the best turn- Free School Street Branch in around time among all banks. Kolkata. mart policies, and aleg up from Mohammad,acomputer deal- ■ It needs to improveits account the government, have seen statements; it ranks10onthis score. er in the same locality,has sev- S Indian Bank transform itself eral fixed deposit certificates AHMEDABAD from aloss-making ventureto with the bank and needsan Bank of Baroda 683 aprofit-making enterprise within aspan interest accrued certificateto ICICI Bank 678 of eight years. It is nowall set to aggres- marketing strategytoconnect with con- file his income tax returns.The SBI 667 sively expand its presencenationwide. sumers. And it seems to be succeeding deadline is March31, 2010.He And here’sthe icing on the cake: cus- in its efforts. is yettoget it after 11 visits and CanaraBank 662 tomers across 18 cities have ranked the “I’mvery happywith Indian Bank,” morethan30hours at the OBC 660 bank No. 1amongstate-owned banks says Sandeep Ahluwalia,who runs branch. Central Bank 659 and fourth overall It pippedits more Delhi-based event management com- Mohammad’s experiencerep- Bank of 652 illustrious peers—including the coun- panyIdeas Unlimited. “Its staff is very resents what’s wrong with UBI. Maharashtra try’slargest bank,State Bank of India customer-oriented,and it has aquick No wonder the bank doesn’t fea- HDFCBank 646 —tothe post,according to the turnaround time.” tureinthe top 10 in anyofthe Vijaya Bank 645 Hindustan Times—MaRS Survey on ■ Indian Bank rankssixth in ATMs,the most popular point of contact forcus- Rajan also says the bank is looking metros, including itsheadquar- Bank of India 643 Consumer Satisfaction in Banking. tomers with their banks. KUNAL PATIL/HT PHOTO at adeposit growth of 17 per cent and ters Kolkata. Even better,itiswithin striking dis- acredit of 20 per cent for2010-11. “We “Some days theircomputers tanceofthe three privatesector rivals sumersinMumbai, India’s financial shedding its image of asouth Indian have been very proactiveinour efforts don’t work,onothers,some LUCKNOW whoare ahead. capital, have rated it the country’sbest bank. andhavecome along wayfromwhere employee hasn’t come.Onyet The Chennai-based bank, which was bank. ConsumersinChandigarhalso “Wewant to addmorebranches to we were,” he adds. others, when both areinplace, SBI 784 saddledwith accumulated losses of Rs feel the same way. And six cities have giveourselves apan-India presence,” But thereare still some areas where theyare busy with sundry cus- Allahabad 782 3,849.62crore as on March 31, 2002, ranked it among the top 5. M.S. SundaraRajan, chairman and it needs to getits acttogether.Itranks tomers,” says Mohammad,who Bank posted anet profit of Rs 1,245.32crore Indian Bank currently has abranch managing director of the bank, tells alowly 10th in “experiencewith bank has remained loyaltothe bank CanaraBank 778 in 2008-09. network of 1,700, of which 60 per cent Hindustan Times. account statements” and sixth in ATMs, formorethan three decades. OBC 771 The remarkable turnaround was is in southern India. But realising the It has added 100 branches this year, the most popular point of contact for Poor performance in the util- United Bank 771 scripted by smart policies, aggressive importanceofapan-India presence, and hopes to addanother 100 in the customerswith their banks. isation of technology and alack- Union Bank 765 marketing strategyand government the bank reinvented its image and posi- next. It also has branches in Singapore The management is awareofthese adaisicalworkculture (last posi- PNB 762 handholding. tioned itself as abank forthe entire and Colombo. shortcomings. Canitaddress them? tion in overall experience) mark Bank of India 758 In ahugevote of confidence, con- country and has largely succeeded in The bank also adopted belligerent Wait fornextyear’ssurvey to find out. frequent customer complaints. “UBI doesn’t perform well on IOB 752 parameterslikereturnonnet Central Bank 748 worth, return on assets, non- INTERVIEW We have managedtostayaheadof performing assets, cost of the competition. We have seen deposit deposits, business and profit per M.S. SUNDARARAJAN and credit growth higher than the employee in its peer group,” says PATNA industry averageand thathas been Rajesh Agarwal, director, CD Punjab & ‘Weare connecting encouraging.Wehope to achieve 17 Equisearch, athree decade-old Sind Bank 657 per cent growth in deposits and 20 Kolkata-based equityresearch ICICI Bank 654 per cent in credit. firm. PNB 648 well with customers’ It doesn’t offer tele-banking Bank of Baroda 643 What initiatives have youtaken to or net banking services. IOB 635 M.S. Sundara Rajan,chairman and Indian Bank has been ranked the best expand the scope of financial inclu- The management refused to managing director,Indian Bank, has public sector bank in the country? sion? speak to Hindustan Times for CanaraBank 618 reasons to cheer.Indian Bank, which What has changed over the last few It should be our social responsi- this report. Syndicate Bank 616 hadalmost been written off as dead years for customers to choose your bilitytogiveasmuch as possible to Its advertisement claims: Bank of India 614 10 yearsago,has turned around and bank over others? our farmers. We have engaged rural “The bank thatbegins with U.” Indian Bank 613 is todaythe country’sfavourite pub- We have tried to aggressively con- development officersand agricultur- “Hardly,” saybitter con- United Bank 613 lic sector bank. Rajan spoketo HT’s nectwiththe customers. Besides, we to have apan-Indian presenceand we al experts to provide counselling to sumerslikeMohammad. Mahua Venkatesh on howthe bank have also tried to position ourselves have successfully done that. farmers. Thereshould be amecha- At least one bank, it seems, turned around and its future. as abank thatisnot thereonly to serve nism of joint liabilityand therebybring hasn’t changed its public sector Excerpts: the customersinthe south but the What kind of business growth have in those whoare outside the banking mindset —yet…. despite its Rs GUWAHATI whole of India. It wascritical forus youseen over the last couple of years? net into the fold. 330-croreIPO recently. Axis Bank 812 Bank of Baroda 782 Union Bank 777 UCO Bank 758 ICICI Bank 758 HDFCBank 755 The elephant learns to dance 752 SBI Howwedid it 739 PNB Indian Bank 735 PUBLIC PUSH StateBank of India, India’s largest bank,isonlya he Hindustan Times-MaRS In the major metros, such as Central Bank 733 Survey on India’s Best Banks Mumbai and Delhi, very highincome shortdistance behindthe leaders in the pack. T wascarried out in 18 major localities such as some areas in South state capitals and business Mumbai or South Delhi were exclud- COCHIN centres across India. ed from sampling frame.All slums Avijit Ghosal Mumbai and Bangalore—and in of the books of its privatesector rivals. Forthe purposes of sampling,each and similar localities were also Corpn Bank 741 ■[email protected] Chennai. It set up dedicated retail branches, cityortownwas divided into sam- excluded in all sample towns. Also, Federal Bank 733 In Kolkata, SBI comes in at joint sec- changed the disheveled public sector plingzones.These ranged from five account holdersofmultinational Indian Bank 717 hy don’t youinvest in ond (with HDFCBank), behind Axis look at these branches, began one-stop to 30 dependingonthe city. banks were not included. Catholic Syrian our mutual funds? Bank, but turns the tables in banking (wherecustomersdid not have Each sampling zone wasallocat- The universe of the study,there- Bank 714 Theyare giving good Hyderabad, whereitisthe clear No. 1. to go to fivedifferent counterstoget ed anumber of starting points. From fore,was by design restricted to mid- Dhanlakshmi 707 “W Bank returns.” “They(privatebanks) brought more work done) and expanded its network each starting point, up to six house- dle class urban Indians. Don’t be surprisedifyou hearthis gen- products to the market, introduced the of ATMs at afurious pace. holds were selected and interviewed, Also,the findings were not SBI 703 tle voiceevenbeforeyou step inside latest technologyand weaned away the SBI’ssheer size and its access to using random start and systematic analysed by income or socio eco- ICICI Bank 699 the Kasbabranch (southKolkata) of urban segment thathad alot of money cheap resourcesalso came to its sampling.The sampling,survey and nomic classes. To abanker,all cus- South Indian the State Bank of India. in their pockets but little time to spend defence. analysis wascarried out by MaRS, tomersmust be equal and thatwas Bank 697 Forcustomersatthis branch, the in abank,”saysRanjan Das, professor “SBI handles most government our knowledgepartner forthis ini- howweapproached our analysis of HDFCBank 689 frail Gobinda Naskar,who stands guard of strategic management, IIM-C. accounts, pensions and public provi- tiative. findings. Axis Bank 687 at the front door with aheavy double Apart from the newgeneration cus- dent fund accounts. As aresult, the con- barrel gun, is also its first marketing tomers, large and mid-sized companies stant flowoffunds wasalmost guar- face. also started moving away. anteed,”saysRajesh Agarwal, director, HT’s knowledge partner MaRS interviewed 9,486 account holders INDORE Om Prakash Bhatt, SBI’sfeistychair- The 800-pound gorilla in India’s CD Equisearch, an equityresearch firm. across 18 state capitals and business centres across India. man since2006,may not knowNaskar, banking space wasobviously punch- Abank, designed to function likea IOB 831 but he personifies all the attributes ing belowits class. socialistic welfareorganisation after Syndicate Bank 808 Bhatt wants to infuseinhis 200,000 But getting its acttogether wasa Independence, wasmorphing into a Mumbai Delhi Ahmedabad Kolkata Hyderabad Jaipur Punjab &Sind employees in his unfinished questto challenge. To overcome the technolo- marketentity. Maharashtra Gujarat West Bengal AndhraPradesh Rajasthan Bank 791 retain SBI’spreeminentposition in gy handicap,SBI gotITmajor Tata And thatiswhatBhatt, whohas SBI 772 Indian banking,and aplace amongthe Consultancy Services to create the spent 38 yearswith SBI, has been doing Bank of India 766 top 20 banksinthe world. world’slargest core banking solution forthe past fiveyears. 1,047 968 817 794 Axis Bank 766 It’s asearch thatwas thrust upon with 11,888 offices on asingle platform. And it’s showing in the Hindustan 672 608 State Bank of SBI in the post-reforms era. Transformation came at afaster pace Times-MaRS rankings. Indore 766 In an interviewtothe McKinsey in its backroom than at the front desk. SBI has been ranked joint second Chennai Bangalore Lucknow Ludhiana Patna Cochin UCO Bank 765 Quarterly (Q3,’09),Bhatt admittedthat But SBI did learn to dance—and devel- among public sector banks, joint fifth Tamil Nadu Karnataka Uttar Pradesh Punjab Bihar Kerala SBI’smarketsharehad dipped from op acustomer focus. overall. Given its size and the difficul- CanaraBank 759 35 per cent in early ’70s to about 15 per It began by taking severalleavesout ty of transforming large organisations, 576 502 491 472 472 447 PNB 755 cent now. thatisvery creditable. From the mid-1990s, upstart private It is the favourite among ATMusers Bhubaneswar Indore Guwahati Chandigarh Ranchi Raipur sectorrivals such as ICICI Bank and and easily outscores its privatesector Orissa Madhya Pradesh Assam Union Territory Jharkhand Chhattisgarh RAIPUR HDFCBank, which were technology- rivals on this count, but ranks between 370 322 261 253 225 189 savvyand carried no publicsectorlega- fiveand sevenonother parameters CanaraBank 782 cy,began nippingatits heels and then (see SBI: The Fine Print). State Bank of 768 overtook it on most parametersofcus- Clearly,there’salot that’sright with Indore tomersatisfaction. India’s largest bank. The areas where Bank of Baroda 765 Customer satisfaction wasmeasured using 22 parameters grouped The Hindustan Times-MaRS survey it needs to improve arealso clear.And Union Bank 762 shows thatprivatesector rivals Axis given Bhatt’s success at transforma- into fivemain criteria. UCO Bank 760 Bank, HDFCBank and ICICI Bank tion management so far, only avery The main criteria and the parameters used were: areaheadofSBI in customer satis- rash punter would wager against him Allahabad Bank 741 faction in India’s three most impor- setting these right in the foreseeable ■ Account opening: Ease of waiting area, stock of stationary and Dena Bank 734 tant commercial centres —Delhi, future. account opening (the amount of forms, availability of water and rest PNB 733 paperwork involved), friendly and rooms in the branch, branch banking Central Bank 723 courteous guidance, transparency in hours, response time to queries HEMANT PADALKAR/HT PHOTO SBI ■ SBI is the favourite declaring applicable fees and 721 among ATMusers. ■ Turnaround time: Time taken charges, time taken for the account during atypical branch visit, queue opening process at counters and waiting period ■ Bank staff: Staff availability, ■ Bank account statements: RANCHI friendly and courteous behaviour, Regular and timely updation, timely Union Bank 805 knowledge of bank’s products and and hassle-free delivery,accurate services, willingness to listen and UCO Bank 804 and error-free statements and Bank of Baroda respond to your needs, fast and effi- prompt response to queries 803 cient service, recognition of youas United Bank 784 valued customer, professional and ■ Overall satisfaction ratings were PNB 765 derived by aggregating the scores attractiveappearance of executives CanaraBank manning the desks on each criteria after suitably 754 weighting them. Bank of India 749 ■ Branch facilities: Clean and well- Central Bank 728 kept facilities, pleasant &attractive The study team wasled by Gaurav décor, seating availability in the Panakel ([email protected]). SBI 710 Allahabad Bank 709