The Banking Status in India

The global picture of Indian banking system is very lucrative. India is the second most populated country in the world and because of the immense growth potential it has shown it has become the apple of the eye for the world now. Ever since the Narshima Committee introduced 1991 reforms of liberalization, globalization and privatization the world economies started getting attracted toward it as the economy had a market which showed immense possibilities. It seems like with the robust increase in the Indian urban market they are now on the edge of saturation, so corporate have started exploiting the potential of rural markets as the country's more than 60% population resides in Village. On the domestic turf let us give a close view to the picture. The Indian Banking system is one which faces maximum number of consumer complaints. A survey conducted in Delhi highlighted the level of customer agitation from the banking services. The State Bank of India had received maximum complaint followed by ICICI bank & HDFC bank. While the later two being private the former holds the position of being the oldest and has 51% Government stake in it and is largest public sector bank in India. The total numbers of complaints received in the year were 10508 out of which 4500 cases were registered against these banks. Public sector bank had 41% of consumer complaint against them while 36 per cent of the complaints were against private sector lenders and by foreign banks accounted to 15 per cent. The maximum complaints were received from Delhi region (including Noida and Ghaziabad) followed by Haryana. The reports were revealed by banking ombudsman (disputes resolution machinery appointed by the RBI). The 40% complaints could only be resolved by the scheme as many were not under the preview of the scheme. The RBI has been taking several measures to check the service of banks. In 1995 it set up a body called as Banking Ombudsman to make available an economical and quick consumer forum for redressing complaints involving to insufficiency in customer service delivered by banks. Although the complaints received this year were slightly less than what it had received in the previous year but it is still a high volume an alarming/ this is because the services had not reach to rural sector were people are less educated and may not even be aware of the process of filing the complaints. Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's stated that even though the inflationary pressure in high and the banking sector is facing tremendous competition the growth of the sector will be gradually increasing to 20% for the next financial year. In addition it said that the agency said that India's banking sector had battered the worldwide recession on the back of a dynamic economy, a steady retail deposit support and a practical regulatory setting. With such a high prospects there is an immediate need to increase the efficiency of banks and take effective actions to curb such deficiencies.

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