Customer satisfaction in retail services: A comparative study of public and private sector banks

Indian banking has come a long way from being a sleepy business institution to a highly proactive and dynamic entity. This transformation has been largely brought about by large scale liberalization and economic reforms that have allowed banks to explore new business opportunities rather than generating revenues from conventional streams such as borrowing and lending. Economic reforms and the entry of private players have seen nationalized banks revamp their services and product portfolios to incorporate new, innovative customer-centric schemes. Hence, Indian banking has finally woken up to the surging demands of the ever-discerning Indian consumer. Nowadays, due to the increase in competition, customer satisfaction is considered to be the most important thing in retail services. This study aims to analyse the major factors that are contributing towards customer satisfaction in banking services. The study also attempts to investigate any difference in the customer satisfaction of public and private sector banks. The study revealed that Innovative services, Network, Asscess, Technicalities, Behaviour, Comfort and Image are some of the factors responsible for customer satisfaction. Results have also revealed that there is no significant difference in the customer satisfaction of public and private sector banks.