Article Type: Research Article Article Citation: Gande Surya.
(2020). INFORMEDNESS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS AS BANK CUSTOMERS. International
Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH, 8(6), 276-279. https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v8.i6.2020.418 Received Date: 03 April 2020 Accepted Date: 30 June 2020 Keywords: Bank Customers Dispute Citizen Charter of Bank Banking Ombudsman Bank Statement Interest on
Deposits Banks are the institutions where most of the people put their hard-earned money in. But do they really know about banks - their services, their terms and conditions, their tariff plans, their communications and the dispute resolution mechanisms? This study tried to find out this by, interviewing 100 young college-going bank customers. The surprising results of this study led to some suggestions which require immediate implementation.
1. INTRODUCTIONThe
customer’s knowledge of the service, service provider and other players in the
service market is called customer awareness. An informed customer can make
decisions that give him the maximum benefit. This informedness
brings the need for continuous improvement in products/ services, making only
the fittest to survive. This, in turn, helps in the overall prosperity of the
economy. Bank
services include accepting deposits and extending loans amongst others.
Accepting deposits account for a large consumer base and volume. The modern
banking industry of India dates back to the colonial era. The banking industry
in India is so large that it accounts for over 130 commercial banks with
aggregate deposits amounting to USD 950 billion (as of 2013). With the industry
being this large it becomes important for the customers to be: ·
Aware
of the basic terms and conditions of the bank service. ·
Aware
of the tariff plan of the bank services. ·
Aware
of dispute resolution mechanisms. ·
Able
to understand basic bank communication (Bank statement/ SMSs). This
awareness will allow consumers to make the best choices. With customers being
informed it almost becomes obligatory for banks to improve their services. This
benefits the banking industry and the economy as a whole. This study is an
attempt to examine the level of customer awareness in the baking
sector in India. 2. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDYThe study has been conducted with the following objectives: 1) Customer awareness of basic terms and conditions of bank services. 2) Customer's ability to understand of bank's communication. 3) Customer awareness of the dispute resolution mechanism. 4) Suggestions for improvement of the banking industry. 3. METHODOLOGYData has been collected from both primary and secondary sources for the study. Primary data has been collected using a questionnaire and one to one interview of students (UG Students) of three different streams viz. Science, Arts and Commerce of reputed colleges and universities in Telangana. The sample is a randomly selected respondents of sample size - 100. Secondary data has been collected from various books, journals and articles. 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe level of the customer's awareness is judged based on the following parameters: · Are they aware of the basic terms and conditions of the service. · Are they aware of the service tariff plans of their bank. · Do they understand SMS/ Bank statements of banks. · Are they aware of the dispute resolution mechanism. The results of the study were surprising because Almost none of the customers were aware of the existence of citizen charters of banks which, contains the general/ basic terms and conditions of banks. Most of them even after using multiple bank accounts (55% of respondents)/ using bank accounts for more than 2 years (88% of respondents) are not even aware of the interest paid by their bank. For a rational customer the primary objective of a deposit is interest, and not being aware of it defeats the whole purpose of a deposit. Only a minute fraction of them was aware of the dispute resolution mechanisms. And Most of them did not understand the basic communication from banks. The results of the study can be easily understood using the charts below: Figure 1 shows that 68% of the respondents did not know about the interest paid by their banks. Which is basically the most important parameter before making an investment/ deposit. Figure 1: Awareness on bank interest Figure 2 shows the ignorance of
customers, even of the existence of a bank's citizen charter – which contains
almost all the basic terms and conditions. Figure 2: Awareness of bank citizen charter Figure 3 shows the effectiveness of bank communication. Not even one in four respondents understand the terms – debit/ credit which is used in most bank communications – bank statements/ SMSs
Figure 3: Understandability of bank communication Figure 4 and 5 show the ignorance
of bank customers of Dispute resolution mechanisms and the annual maintenance
charges of banks respectively.
This cumulatively suggests that
customers are not aware of: ·
what they get in
return of their deposit. ·
They do not know the
basic terms and conditions of the service. ·
They don’t understand
basic bank communication. ·
Also, they don’t know
where to go if there is a dispute with the bank. In a nutshell, they almost know
nothing of banking, even after banking for more than two years now. If this is
case with University/ College students the situation of other customers in the
society could be unimaginable. 5. SUGGESTIONSThis study was an attempt to
understand the awareness levels of bank customers. The results of the study
lead to the following suggestions: ·
Increase
awareness about the banking Ombudsman scheme by the banking industry. ·
Respective banks
have to make people aware of their terms and conditions (including tariff
plans). ·
Banks have to
change their terminology ( eg. Debit/ Credit in bank statements/ SMSs) to communicate efficiently with their
customers. ·
Personal finance
has to be made, part of the curriculum in higher education irrespective of
their discipline. 6. CONCLUSIONThough the government is taking
active steps to protect bank customers, they are far from saturation. People
are not even aware of the basic things. This gives banks an opportunity to
exploit their customers. This also results in people making irrational
decisions, which is not good for the economy as a whole and consumers in
particular. So, it perhaps becomes imperative for the authorities to consider
to above suggestions. SOURCES OF FUNDINGNone. CONFLICT OF INTERESTNone. ACKNOWLEDGMENTNone. REFERENCES
[1]
Kangkana
Chaudhury. (2017). “CONSUMER AWARENESS AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS.” International Journal of
Research - Granthaalayah, 5(6), 223-230. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.820525.
[2]
Nitin
Night, Kumar Gangwar, Kaushal Kishor. (2018).
“AWARNESS IF CONSUMER RIGHTS AMONG STUDENTS.” International Conference on
Recent Innovation in Management, Engineering, Science and Technology – RIMEST. www.conferenceworld.in.
[3]
“STATISTICAL
TABLES RELATING TO BANKS IN INDIA 2012- 13.” Reserve Bank of India (2013).
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