The credit card market in India, which started out in 1981, is on the verge of an unprecedented boom. Between 1987 and 2000, the market has virtually grown to over 3.8 million cards with almost 25–30 per cent growth in new card-holders. Currently, four major bishops are ruling the card empire - Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and State Bank of India (SBI). While card-base and appends are growing at 25–30 per cent annually it is only 20 per cent of the card base, that is actually generating revenue, Nearly 45–50 per cent of the card-holders are estimated to be inactive. This is an area of major concern for the banks as it speaks volumes about the level of satisfaction derived from the bank/credit card. No bank or financial service provider can reap the benefits if they focus only on broadening the customer database. There seems to be a gap between what customers expect and what card issuers deliver. In other words the credit card issuers are not correctly focused on the service quality dimensions that matter to the customer. Citibank, SBI, HSBC, Bank of Baroda are the dominant players in the credit card industry in India. The basic purpose of the study is to evaluate different banks on the basis of SERVQUAL model (service quality model also popularly referred to as GAP model) and study perceptual mapping of different banks with respect to credit cards.
Consumer perception, SERVQUAL model, Credit cards
