I have been banking with Public sector banks for more than 10 years and definitely feel a great change in the attitude of the employees.Not so long ago I had to wait for more than 3 hours right in front of the officer’s desk (in IOB) to check whether my outstation cheque was cleared, only to be informed that I had to come the next day.
In one of the government a/c brach of SBI in chennai, a couple of years ago we had to wait for long hours for the things that could have been done in minutes.
The above and many such incidents had left a bitter memory in my mind, but I was forced to change it after my very recent experience with the SBI for my housing loan.
some of those incidents/observations are
1) My housing loan was sanctioned in 4 weeks time after thorough scrutiny of documents. (Pvt sector banks sanction the loan in 4-5 days also, but a very little care is given for document verification). The scrutiny of documents also helped me in identifying that the property is genuine. The most surrprising factor at that point was that the officers/executives engaged in the loan dept were so courteous and was always wiling to help you for any of your queries.
2) All the fees are fixed. Never at any point of time I had to give money for anything other then stipulated
3) The loan application and documents were collected from my house by the SBI staff. Even before I could apply, I was able to verifiy that I am eligible for loan (going by the SBI route with the help of the loan officer ) and that I have all the documents required for it.
4) I was allowed to fix my available time for appointment. Except for the registration time (understandable, obiviously), everything was done suiting my time lines. (goodnes me.. am I in India?)
5) The bank manager himself helped us with creating the account, took out the printouts of statement (for EMI’s paid). He gave us personal attention.
All all this came even when we didn’t know anyone in SBI ( something which you cannot do without in India)
6) And most importantly, the loan division works also on sundays. (!!!). Just imagine getting your work done on a Sunday from a Public Sector Bank. It would not have been in the wildest dreams that you would imagined this sometime before.
I had been to the chennai office today. One of the applicants was trying to claify his doubts. For some reason, he was asking the same question again and again. I was in the other desk watching the officer attending him. He was very patient, answered the applicant’s questions over and over again without minding that its repeated many times. After an hour or so, when the applicant had left, he jokingly remarked he would need more coffee today since the same applicant might return again with the same question.
Ofcourse, there are lots of scope for improvemnt, but overall , its been really satisfying. The ambience, the attitude and the work culture have changed. This is a good postive sign in the Public sector Banks. If the same attitude continues in all the PSU banks, I am sure more and more people will start banking with them.