Though I have not been a customer of too many banks. Me and my Family/Friends have experienced most major banks in India.
HSBC is the best I have found till now.
With regard to Credit Cards, these are the reasons I recommend HSBC:
Good Customer Care: They listen to you and are highly responsive to your problems. They have flexible policies and do not stress out customers.
Phone Banking: Operations like address change etc can be done on phone after the verification process is done. Unlike other banks, you don’t have to go to a branch and fill out a form. Proves customer friendliness.
Internet Banking: The best internet banking site I have seen so far. (ICICI is good too, but HSBC is the easiest to use). The interface is simple and straightforward.
Reward Points: With their Rewards Programme, they really show customers how much they care. If you use a Gold Card, you get a point for every 100 Rupees to spend. And you can exchange your points for really good gifts. I exchanged my points for a Philips Iron, a very useful product. They give several other gifts. For example those customers who opted for E-Statements instead of paper statements got a pocket FM Radio.
They don’t call unnecessarily with offers. In my one year of using HSBC Card, I hardly received 2 calls from HSBC.
The recent fraud commited by a HSBC employee has definitely affected the bank’s reputation, but I still treat it as a stray case and continue to trust the bank. I hope they maintain the same efficiency in the times to come.