Service Quality: Insights from the Indian Banking Scenario

Abstract

The Indian banking industry is going through turbulent times. With the lowering of entry barriers and blurring of product lines of banks and non-banks since the financial sector reforms, banks are functioning increasingly under competitive pressures. Hence, it is imperative that banks maintain a loyal customer base. In order to achieve this and improve their market and profit positions, many retail banks are directing their strategies towards increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty through improved service quality. Moreover, with the advent of international banking, the trend towards larger bank holding companies, and innovations in the marketplace, customers have greater and greater difficulty in distinguishing and selecting one institution from another. Therefore the current problem for the banking industry in India is to determine the dimensions of customer-perceived service quality. This is because if service quality dimensions can be identified, service managers should be able to improve the delivery of customer perceived quality during the service process and have greater control over the overall outcome.

The objective of the study was to explore the dimensions of customer perceived service quality in the context of the Indian retail banking industry. A set of service quality parameters, drawn from customers’ perceptions about service quality as well as the bank marketing and service quality literature, were drawn up. These parameters have been used in the context of four of the largest banks in India to identify the underlying dimensions of service quality, using factor analysis.

The study suggests that customers distinguish four dimensions of service quality in the case of the retail banking industry in India, namely, attitude, competence, tangibles and convenience. Identifying the underlying dimensions of the service quality construct in the Indian retail banking industry is the first step in the definition and hence provision of quality service. This article has drawn upon the findings of the service quality dimensions to contend the initiatives that banks’ managers can take to enhance employees’ skills and attitudes and instill a customer-service culture.