Online published on 17 March, 2012.
The issue of retail banking is extremely important and topical. Across the globe, retail lending has been a spectacular innovation in the commercial banking sector in recent years. The growth of retail lending, especially, in emerging economies is attributable to the rapid advances in information technology, the evolving macroeconomic environment, financial market reform, and several micro-level demand and supply side factors. India too experienced a surge in retail banking. There are various pointers towards this. Retail loan is estimated to have accounted for nearly one-fifth of all bank credit. Housing sector is experiencing a boom in its credit. The retail loan market has decisively got transformed from a sellers’ market to a buyers’ market. Gone are the days where getting a retail loan was somewhat cumbersome. All these emphasise the momentum that retail banking is experiencing in the Indian economy in recent years.
Only satisfied customers will become loyal customers but satisfaction in service industry like banking is determined by various factors. This study has taken dimensions of service quality for measuring the satisfaction level of customers of different banks and different products. It found that satisfaction with different dimensions is not same in all three products considered and also varied among customers of different banks. This finding may help bankers to identify the dimensions in which they lack and improve in the same.
