This document is a research project report submitted in partial fulfillment of a Master of Business Administration degree. It examines the service quality of HDFC Bank through a survey conducted at two of its branches. The report includes an introduction, company profile of HDFC Bank, literature review on service quality in banks, research objectives, methodology, data analysis, findings, conclusions, and recommendations. It was supervised by Dr. Bhupinder Chahal and submitted by Prikshit Chauhan in April 2017 at Chandigarh University.
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1. Final Research PROJECT REPORT
ON
THE STUDY OF
“SERVICE QUALITY OF HDFC BANK”
AT
Submitted in partial fulfillment of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
In the
University School of Business
CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY, GHARUAN
(2017)
SUPERVISED BY: SUBMITTED BY:
Dr. BHUPINDER CHAHAL PRIKSHIT CHAUHAN
15MBA1317
MBA- 4(D)
2. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
This is to certifiy that the project report titled “SERVICE QUALITY OF HDFC BANK”
carried out by PRIKSHIT CHAUHAN has been accomplished under my guidance &
supervision as a duly registered MBA student of Chandigarh University School of Business,
Gharuan, Mohali. This project is being submitted by him in the fulfilment of the requirements for
the award of the Master of Business Administration from CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY,
GHAURUAN, MOHALI.
His dissertation represents his original work and is worthy of consideration for the award of the
degree of Master in Business Administration,
Dr. Bhupinder Chahal
(Name & Signature of the FacultyAdvisor)
Date : April 6,2017
3. DECLARATION
Myself Prikshit Chauhan bonafide student of MBA, CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY would
like to declare that the project titled “Consumer Preferences & Attributes Towards Current
Account” in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master Of Business Administration,
CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY is my original work.
Prikshit Chauhan
(Student Name & Signature)
Date: April 6, 2017
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to extend my sincere thank to my Project Guide, Dr. Bhupinder Chahal, who was
the guiding force behind the project undertaken. Their involvement and timely guidance
throughout the project, review and feedback has made this report possible.
The research project offered both a learning experience as well as a glimpse into the daily
management functions of an organization. During the tenure of this project, I was fortunate to
have interacted with people who in their own capacities have encouraged and guided me. I am
thankful for their constant encouragement & assistance throughout my survey which this project
would not have been possible.
Sincerely,
PRIKSHIT CHAUHAN
5. INDEX
CHAPTER
NO.
CHAPTER TITLE
PAGE NO.
1. INTRODUCTION 2
2. COMPANY PROFILE 3-12
3. SERVICE QUALITY IN BANKS 13-20
4. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE 21-22
5. REVIEW OF LITRATURE 23-28
6. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 29-33
7. DATA ANALYSIS 34-79
8. FINDINGS OF THE REPORT 80-81
9 CONCLUSION 82-83
10. RECOMMENDATIONS 84-85
11. BIBLIOGRAPHY 86
12. ANNEXURE: QUESTIONNAIRE 87-89
8. INTRODUCTIONOF BANKING
Service with a smile:
Today‟s finicky banking customers will settle for nothing less. The customer has come to realize
somewhat belatedly that he is the king. The customer‟s choice of one entity over another as his
principal bank is determined by considerations of service quality rather than any other factor. He
wants competitive loan rates but at the same time also wants his loan or credit card application
processed in double quick time. He insists that he be promptly informed of changes in deposit
rates and service charges and he bristles with „customary rage‟ if his bank is slow to redress any
grievance he may have. He cherishes the convenience of impersonal net banking but during his
occasional visits to the branch he also wants the comfort of personalized human interactions and
facilities that make his banking experience pleasurable. In short he wants financial house that
will more than just clear his cheque and updates his passbook: he wants a bank that cares and
provides great services.
So does HDFC bank meet these heightened expectations? What are the customers‟ perceptions
of service quality of the banks? Which dimension of service quality of HDFC bank is performing
well? To find out answers to these questions I undertook a survey of 2 branches of HDFC bank.
A lot of surveys have been done in the past to understand the aspect of customer satisfaction and
to find out the customer friendly banks. My research is conducted to find out “SERVICE
QUALITY OF HDFC BANK”.
9. COMPANYPROFILE
The Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) was amongst the
first to receive an 'in principle' approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to
set up a bank in the private sector, as part of the RBI's liberalisation of the Indian
Banking Industry in 1994. The bank was incorporated in August 1994 in the name
of 'HDFC Bank Limited', with its registered office in Mumbai, India. HDFC Bank
commenced operations as a Scheduled Commercial Bank in January 1995.
HDFC Bank comprises of a dynamic and enthusiastic team determined to
accomplish the vision of becoming a World-class Indian bank. HDFC bank‟s
business philosophy is based on our four core values - Customer Focus,
Operational Excellence, Product Leadership and People. They believe that the
ultimate identity and success of their bank will reside in the exceptional quality of
people and their extraordinary efforts. They are committed to hiring, developing,
motivating and retaining the best people in the industry.
10. BUSINESS FOCUS
HDFC Bank's mission is to be a World-Class Indian Bank. The objective is to
build sound customer franchises across distinct businesses so as to be the preferred
provider of banking services for target retail and wholesale customer segments,
and to achieve healthy growth in profitability, consistent with the bank's risk
appetite. The bank is committed to maintain the highest level of ethical standards,
professional integrity, corporate governance and regulatory compliance. HDFC
Bank's business philosophy is based on four core values - Operational Excellence,
Customer Focus, ProductLeadership and People.
MISSION STATEMENT OF HDFC BANK
* World Class Indian Bank.
* Benchmarking against international standards.
* To build sound customer franchises across distinct businesses
* Best practices in terms of productofferings, technology, service
levels, risk management and audit & compliance
11. VISION STATEMENTOF HDFC BANK
The HDFC Bank is committed to maintain the highest level of ethical standards,
professional integrity and regulatory compliance. HDFC Bank‟s business
philosophy is based on four core values such as:-
1. Operational excellence.
2. Customer Focus.
3.Productleadership.
4. People.
The objective of the HDFC Bank is to provide its target market customers a full
range of financial products and banking services, giving the customer a one-step
window for all his/her requirements. The HDFC Bank plus and the investment
advisory services programs have been designed keeping in mind needs of
customers who seeks distinct financial solutions, information and advice on
various investment avenues.
12. BUSINESS STRATEGY
* Increasing market share in India‟s expanding banking
* Delivering high quality customer service
* Maintaining current high standards for asset quality through
disciplined credit risk management
* Develop innovative products and services that attract targeted
customers and address inefficiencies in the Indian financial
sector.
DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
HDFC Bank is headquartered in Mumbai. The Bank at present has an enviable
network of over 1229 branches spread over 444 cities across India. All branches
are linked on an online real-time basis. Customers in over 120 locations are also
serviced through Telephone Banking. The Bank's expansion plans take into
account the need to have a presence in all major industrial and commercial centers
where its corporate customers are located as well as the need to build a strong retail
customer base for both deposits and loan products. Being a clearing/settlement
bank to various leading stock exchanges, the Bank has branches in the centers
where the NSE/BSE has a strong and active member base.
13. The Bank also has a network of about over 2526 networked ATMs across these
cities. Moreover, HDFC Bank's ATM network can be accessed by all domestic and
international Visa/MasterCard, Visa Electron/Maestro, Plus/Cirrus and American
Express Credit/Charge cardholders.
PROMOTER
HDFC is India's premier housing finance company and enjoys an impeccable track
record in India as well as in international markets. Since its inception in 1977, the
Corporation has maintained a consistent and healthy growth in its operations to
remain a market leader in mortgages. Its outstanding loan portfolio covers well
over a million dwelling units. HDFC has developed significant expertise in retail
mortgage loans to different market segments and also has a large corporate client
base for its housing related credit facilities. With its experience in the financial
markets, a strong market reputation, large shareholder base and unique consumer
franchise, HDFC was ideally positioned to promote a bank in the Indian
environment.
MANAGEMENT
Mr. C.M. Vasudev has been appointed as the Chairman of the Bank with effect
from 6th July 2010 subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India and the
shareholders. Mr. Vasudev has been a Director of the Bank since October 2006. A
retired IAS officer, Mr. Vasudev has had an illustrious career in the civil services
and has held several key positions in India and overseas, including Finance
14. Secretary, Government of India, Executive Director, World Bank and Government
nominee on the Boards of many companies in the financial sector.
The Managing Director, Mr. Aditya Puri, has been a professional banker for over
25 years, and before joining HDFC Bank in 1994 was heading Citibank's
operations in Malaysia.
The Bank's Board of Directors is composed of eminent individuals with a wealth
of experience in public policy, administration, industry and commercial banking.
Senior executives representing HDFC are also on the Board.
Senior banking professionals with substantial experience in India and abroad head
various businesses and functions and report to the Managing Director. Given the
professional expertise of the management team and the overall focus on recruiting
and retaining the best talent in the industry, the bank believes that its people are a
significant competitive strength.
TECHNOLOGY
HDFC Bank operates in a highly automated environment in terms of information
technology and communication systems. All the bank's branches have online
connectivity, which enables the bank to offer speedy funds transfer facilities to its
customers. Multi-branch access is also provided to retail customers through the
branch network and Automated Teller(ATMs).
The Bank has made substantial efforts and investments in acquiring the best
technology available internationally, to build the infrastructure for a world class
bank. The Bank's business is supported by scalable and robust systems which
ensure that our clients always get the finest services we offer.
15. The Bank has prioritised its engagement in technology and the internet as one of its
key goals and has already made significant progress in web-enabling its core
businesses. In each of its businesses, the Bank has succeeded in leveraging its
market position, expertise and technology to create a competitive advantage and
build market share.
QUALITY POLICY
SECURITY: The bank provides long term financial security to their policy. The
bank does this by offering life insurance and pension products.
TRUST: The bank appreciates the trust placed by their policy holders in the bank.
Hence, it will aim to manage their investments very carefully and live up to this
trust.
INNOVATION: Recognizing the different needs of our customers, the bank offers a
range of innovative products to meet these needs.
INTEGRITY
CUSTOMER CENTRIC
PEOPLE CARE “ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE”
TEAM WORK
16. BUSINESS
HDFC Bank offers a wide range of commercial and transactional banking services
and treasury products to wholesale and retail customers. The bank has three key
business segments.
Wholesale Banking Services The Bank's target market ranges from large, blue-chip
manufacturing companies in the Indian corporate to small & mid-sized corporates
and agri-based businesses. For these customers, the Bank provides a wide range of
commercial and transactional banking services, including working capital finance,
trade services, transactional services, cash management, etc. The bank is also a
leading provider of structured solutions, which combine cash management services
with vendor and distributor finance for facilitating superior supply chain
management for its corporate customers. Based on its superior product delivery /
service levels and strong customer orientation, the Bank has made significant
inroads into the banking consortia of a number of leading Indian corporates
including multinationals, companies from the domestic business houses and prime
public sector companies. It is recognised as a leading provider of cash management
and transactional banking solutions to corporate customers, mutual funds, stock
exchange members and banks.
RetailBanking Services
The objective of the Retail Bank is to provide its target market customers a full
range of financial products and banking services, giving the customer a one-stop
17. window for all his/her banking requirements. The products are backed by world-
class service and delivered to customers through the growing branch network, as
well as through alternative delivery channels like ATMs, Phone Banking, Net
Banking and Mobile Banking.
The HDFC Bank Preferred program for high net worth individuals, the HDFC
Bank Plus and the Investment Advisory Services programs have been designed
keeping in mind needs of customers who seek distinct financial solutions,
information and advice on various investment avenues. The Bank also has a wide
array of retail loan products including Auto Loans, Loans against marketable
securities, Personal Loans and Loans for Two-wheelers.
It is also a leading provider of Depository Participant (DP) services for retail
customers, providing customers the facility to hold their investments in electronic
form. HDFC Bank was the first bank in India to launch an International Debit Card
in association with VISA (VISA Electron) and issues the Mastercard Maestro debit
card as well. The Bank launched its credit card business in late 2001. By March
2010, the bank had a total card base (debit and credit cards) of over 14 million. The
Bank is also one of the leading players in the “merchant acquiring” business with
over 90,000 Point-of-sale (POS) terminals for debit / credit cards acceptance at
merchant establishments. The Bank is well positioned as a leader in various net
based B2C opportunities including a wide range of internet banking services for
Fixed Deposits, Loans, Bill Payments, etc.
Treasury
Within this business, the bank has three main product areas - Foreign Exchange
and Derivatives, Local Currency Money Market & Debt Securities, and Equities.
18. With the liberalisation of the financial markets in India, corporates need more
sophisticated risk management information, advice and product structures. These
and fine pricing on various treasury products are provided through the bank's
Treasury team. To comply with statutory reserve requirements, the bank is required
to hold 25% of its deposits in government securities. The Treasury business is
responsible for managing the returns and market risk on this investment portfolio.
SERVICE QUALITY IN BANK
In the days of intense competition, the banks are no different from any other
consumer marketing company. It has become essential for the service firms in
general and banks in particular to identify what the customer's requirements are
and how those customer requirements can be met effectively. In the days where
product and price differences are blurred, superior service by the service provider
is the only differentiator left before the banks to attract, retain and partner with the
customers. Superior service quality enables a firm to differentiate itself from its
competition, gain a sustainable competitive advantage, and enhance efficiency
.The benefits of service quality include increased customer satisfaction, improved
customer retention, positive word of mouth, reduced staff turnover, decreased
operating costs, enlarged market share, increased profitability, and improved
financial performance. The construct of service quality has therefore been a subject
of great interest to service marketing researchers.
19. Service quality has been defined by various experts in various ways as: 'Service
Quality is the difference between customers' expectations for service performance
prior to the service encounter and their perceptions of the service received.'
According to Gefan „Service quality is the subjective comparison that customers
make between the qualities of service that they want to receive and what they
actually get.' Parasuraman says, 'Service quality is determined by the differences
between customer's expectations of services provider's performance and their
evaluation of the services they received.
Service quality is 'the delivery of excellent or superior service relative to customer
expectations‟. Service quality is recognized as a multidimensional construct. While
the number of dimensions often varies from researcher to researcher, there is some
consensus that service quality consists of three primary aspects: outcome quality,
interaction quality, and physical service environment quality. Outcome quality
refers to the customer's assessment of the core service which is the prime
motivating factor for obtaining the services (e.g. money received from ATM).
Interaction quality refers to the customer's assessment of the service delivery
process, which is typically rendered via a physical interface between the service
provider, in person, or via technical equipment, and the customer. It includes, for
instance, the consumer's evaluation of the attitude of the service providing staff.
The physical service environment quality dimension refers to the consumer's
evaluation of any tangible aspect associated with the facilities or equipment that
the service is provided in/ with. It includes, for example, the physical conditions of
an ATM machine.
The most popular dimensions of service quality--features five dimensions:
tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, empathy, and assurance. The tangibles
dimension corresponds to the aforementioned physical environment aspect, the
reliability dimension corresponds to the service outcome aspect, and the remaining
20. three represent aspects of interaction quality. Both the costs and the revenue of
firms are affected by repeat purchases, positive word-of-mouth recommendation,
and customer feedback. Moreover, there is strong evidence that service quality has
either a direct influence on the behavioral intentions of customers and/or an
indirect influence on such intentions, mediated through customer satisfaction.
RATER is an instrument that might be used to define and measure banking service
quality and to create useful quality-assessment tools.
The RATER may finally provide the following benefits to the HDFC bank:
1. It is the first approach to add and mix the customers‟ religious beliefs and
cultural values with other quality dimensions.
2. It provides for multi-faced analysis of customer satisfaction.
3. It links quality with customers‟ satisfaction and service encounter.
4. It provides information at several levels, already organized into meaningful
groupings.
5. It is a proven approach, which results in usable answers to meet customers‟
needs.
6. It is empirically grounded, systematic and well documented.
21. Banks managers can use the RATER model and its dimensions first to identify the
following issues:
DIMENSIONSOF SERVICE QUALITY
TANGIBILITY: This dimension deal with modern looking equipments and visual
appealing part of banks.
RESPONSIVENES
RELIABILITY
ASSURANCEEMPATHY
TANGIBILIT
22. RELIABILITY: This dimension has a direct positive effect on perceived service
quality and customer satisfaction in banking institutions. Banks must provide error
free service and secure online transactions to make customers feel comfortable.
RESPONSIVENESS: Customers expect that the banks must respond their inquiry
promptly. Responsiveness describes how often a bank voluntarily provides
services that are important to its customers. Researchers examining the
responsiveness of banking services have highlighted the importance of perceived
service quality and customer satisfaction.
ASSURANCE: Customer expects that the bank must be secured and the behavior of
the employees must be encouraging.
EMPATHY: individual attention, customized service and convenient banking hours
are very much important in today’ service.
In order to achieve better understanding of service quality in banking sector, the
proposed five service quality dimensions are conceptualized to illustrate the overall
service quality of the banking in relation to customers‟and providers perspective.
Banking was in the sector featuring medium goods and higher customer producer
interactions, since in banking, consumers and service providers interact personally
and the use of goods is at a medium level. Hence, in banking, where there are high
23. customer-producer interactions, the quality of service is determined to a large
extent by the skills and attitudes of people producing the service.
In the case of services, because customers are often either direct observers of the
production process or active participants, how the process is performed also has a
strong influence on the overall impression of the quality of service. A well-
performed service encounter may even overcome the negative impression caused
by poor technical quality as well as generate positive word-of-mouth, particularly
if customers can see that employees have worked very hard to satisfy them in the
face of problems outside their control. Employees are part of the process, which
connects with the customer at the point of sale, and hence employees remain the
key to success at these service encounters or “moments of truth”. It is these
encounters with customers during a service that are the most important
determinants of overall customer satisfaction, and a customer‟s experience with
the service will be defined by the brief experience with the firm‟s personnel and
the firm‟s systems. The rudeness of the bank‟s customer service representative, the
abruptness of the employee at the teller counter, or the lack of interest of the
person at the check deposit counter can alter one‟s overall attitude towards the
service, perhaps even reversing the impression caused by high technical quality.
Another important service quality factor, competence, is defined by whether the
bank performs the service right the first time, whether the employees of the bank
tell customers exactly when services will be performed, whether the bank lives up
to its promises, whether customers feel safe in their transactions with the bank and
whether the employees show a sincere interest in solving the customers‟ problems.
24. In short, this dimension is related to the banks‟ ability to perform the promised
service accurately and dependably. Performing the service dependably and
accurately is the heart of service marketing excellence. When a company performs
a service carelessly, when it makes avoidable mistakes, and when it fails to deliver
on promises made to attract customers, it shakes customers‟ confidence in its
capabilities and undermines its chances of earning a reputation for service
excellence.
It is very important to do the service right the first time. In case a service problem
does crop up, by resolving the problem to the customer‟s satisfaction, the company
can significantly improve customer retention. However, companies fare best when
they prevent service problems altogether and fare worst when service problems
occur and the company either ignores them or does not resolve them to the
customer‟s satisfaction.
Performing the service accurately is perhaps the most important factor in service
quality excellence. The cost of performing the service inaccurately includes not
only the cost of redoing the service but also the cost associated with negative
word-of-mouth generated by displeased customers. In case of services, the factory
is the field. Again, services are intangible and hence the criteria for flawless
services are more subjective than the criteria for defect-free tangible goods. Hence
for most services, customers‟ perceptions of whether the service has been
performed correctly, and not provider-established criteria, are the major
determinants of reliability.
The service quality factor tangible is defined by whether the physical facilities and
materials associated with the service are visually appealing at the bank. These are
25. all factors that customers notice before or upon entering the bank. Such visual
factors help consumers form their initial impressions. A crucial challenge in
service marketing is that customers cannot see a service but can see the various
tangibles associated with it - all these tangibles, the service facilities, equipment
and communication materials are clues about the intangible service. If unmanaged,
these clues can send to the customer‟s wrong messages about the service and
render ineffective the marketing strategy of the company. On the other hand,
improving quality through tangibles means attention to the smallest details that
competitors might consider trivial. Yet, these visible details can add up for
customers and signal a message of caring and competence.
Customers may reveal new aspects of service quality in banking that are important
to them, and these would have to be incorporated in the scale so as to further
explore the conceptof service quality in the banking arena.
26. RESEARCHOBJECTIVE
The objective of the study is as follows:
1. To examine the essential dimensions of service quality i.e. RATER-
Reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness of HDFC bank
and its effect on customer‟s satisfaction.
2. To find out the level of perception of the customers from the service quality
offered by the banks.
3. To know which service quality dimension of the bank is performing well.
4. To identify which dimension of service quality needs improvement so that
the quality of service of HDFC banks is enhanced.
27. IMPORTANCE AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study would try to throw some insights into the existing services
provided by the banks, perceptions and the actual service quality of the
bank. The results of the study would be able to recognize the lacunae in
the system and thus provide key areas where improvement is required
for better performance and success ratio. In the days of intense
competition, superior service is the only differentiator left before the
banks to attract, retain and partner with the customers. Superior service
quality enables a firm to differentiate itself from its competition, gain a
sustainable competitive advantage, and enhance efficiency
SCOPE OF STUDY
The scope of this research is to identify the service quality of HDFC bank. This
research is based on primary data and secondary data. This study only focuses on
the dimensions of service quality i.e. RATER. It aims to understand the skill of the
company in the area of service quality that are performing well and shows those
areas which require improvement. The study was done taking two branches of
HDFC bank into consideration. The survey was restricted to the bank customers in
Delhi only.
28. REVIEW OF LITRATURE
Uppal R.K. (2010) studies the extent of mobile banking in Indian banking industry during 2000-
2007. The study concludes that among all e-channels, ATM is the most effective while mobile
banking does not hold a strong position in public and old private sector but in new private sector
banks and foreign banks m-banking is good enough with nearly 50 pc average branches
providing m-banking services. M-banking customers are also the highest in ebanks which have
positive impact on net profits and business per employee of these banks. Among all, foreign
banks are on the top position followed by new private sector banks in providing m-banking
services and their efficiency is also much higher as compared to other groups. The study also
suggests some strategies to improve m-banking services.
Abdullah D.N.M.A. and Rozario F. (2009) study the influence of service and product quality
towards customer satisfaction. 149 respondents from one of the well known hotel in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia are selected as a sample. Psychometric testing is conducted to determine the
reliability and validity of the questionnaire. The study finds positive significant relationship
between place/ambience and service quality with customer satisfaction. Although, relationship
between food quality and customer satisfaction is significant, it is in the negative direction.
Future researchers can concentrate on determining attributes that influence customer satisfaction
when cost/price is not a factor and reasons for place/ambience is currently becoming the leading
factor in determining customer satisfaction.
Aktan B., Teker E. and Erosy P. (2009) examines the usage of internet in Turkey to make a basic
due-diligence investigation for the financial institutions, including banking, stock trading,
insurance and provision of financial information over the period 2005 and 2008. The findings
show that internet usage in Turkey with its young population has continued to grow dramatically
in financial services in terms of customers and financial transactions of various natures.
Azouzi Dhekra (2009) aims to check if the current and prompt technological revolution altering
the whole world has crucial impacts on the Tunisian banking sector. On the basis of empirical
29. analysis, the study concludes that panoply of factors is affecting the customersattitude toward e-
banking. For instance; age, gender and educational qualifications seem to be important and they
split up the group into electronic banking adopters and traditional banking defenders and so, they
have significant influence on the customers’ adoption of e-banking. It also shows that despite the
presidential incentives and in spite of being fully aware of the ebanking benefits, numerous
respondents are still using the conventional banking. Fear of loss because of transactions errors
or hackers plays a significant role in alienating Tunisian customers from online banking. Finally,
the study highlights the limitations and suggests some research perspectives.
Ganesan R. and Vivekanandan K. (2009) describe a secured hybrid architecture model for the
internet banking using Hyperelliptic curve cryptosystem and MD5. This hybrid model is
implemented with the Hyperelliptic curve cryptosystem (HECC) and it performs the encryption
and decryption processes in an efficient way merely with an 80-bit key size. The various screen
shots given in this contribution shows that the hybrid model which encompasses HECC can be
considered in the internet banking environment to enrich the privacy and integrity of the
sensitive data transmitted between the clients and the application server.
Hua G. (2009) investigates the online banking acceptance in China by conducting an experiment
to investigate how users’ perception about online banking is affected by the perceived ease of
use of website and the privacy policy provided by the online banking website. The 110
undergraduate students in Chinese University are involved in the 32 investigation. The study
finds that both perceived ease of use and privacy policy have a significant impact on user’s
adoption of online banking. The study also investigates relative importance of perceived ease of
use, privacy, and security. Perceived ease of use is of less importance than privacy and security.
Security is the most important factor influencing user’s adoption. The study also discusses the
implications of these results and limitations.
Ismail A., Abdullah M.M.B. and Sebastian K.F. (2009) explore the relationships among service
quality features (responsiveness, assurance, and empathy), perceived value and customer
30. satisfaction in context of Malaysia. The empirical data is drawn from 102 members of an
academic staff of a Malaysian public institution of higher learning using a survey questionnaire.
The results indicate that the interaction between perceived value and responsiveness is not
significantly correlated with customer satisfaction, the interaction between perceived value and
assurance also does not correlate significantly with customer satisfaction and the interaction
between perceived value and empathy correlated significantly with customer satisfaction. Thus
the results demonstrate that perceived value has increased the effect of empathy on customer
satisfaction, but it has not increased the effect of responsiveness and assurance on customer
satisfaction.
Janson N. (2009) analyzes the consequences of the major instability introduced by internet
banking on the bank’s ability to manage a liquidity crisis in Northern Rock Bank. The study
shows that inconsistency of the Bank of England policy lead to the initial bank run and that
because it persists in that direction it further lead to the bank’s bankruptcy. Internet banking does
not cause the failure of the bank but it certainly accelerates the fall of the bank which calls for a
greater consistency of the central bank role as a lender of last resort. The study concludes that
despite the existence of lender of last resort and deposit insurance scheme, markets participants
and individual depositors in particular do not like confusing messages during uncertain times.
Kamble S. S., Sawhney S. and Bansal R. (2009) aims to identify online service quality
dimensions that facilitate the customer satisfaction for the e-travel and e-mart online retail.
Further, they evaluate how well these dimensions are perceived by the customers so as to provide
an objective measure of service performance. Ten e-service quality dimensions are 33 identified
and the extent to which current online retailers provide online service attributes are analyzed to
be low or moderate on most of the dimensions for both the e-travel and e-mart service providers.
The model tested for the relationship between the service quality dimensions and customer
satisfaction is also found to be correlated at a low level.
31. Rao N. and Tiwari S. (2009) study the efficiency of 5 public sector banks selected on the basis of
deposits size in 2005. The study concludes that all employee efficiency factors have insignificant
influence on deposits, assets and advances, from branch efficiency, only operating profits per
branch and from operating efficiency, cost of deposits have significant and positive impact.
Liquidity influencing factors and ultimate profit factors do not influence deposits, assets and
advances significantly although all profit factors have negative effect. The study also suggests
some measures to improve efficiency.
Riquelme H.E., Mekkaoui K.A. and Rios R.E. (2009) identify which customer service and online
attributes predict overall satisfaction, determine that if satisfied customers use more online
banking features than less satisfied customers and the characteristics of less satisfied customers.
The sample of 185 customers is drawn from one of the main banks in Kuwait, the Middle East
and multiple regression and discriminant analysis are used to analyze the data. The findings
suggest that satisfaction can be generated through improving courtesy, content, timeliness and
product and services offered and the majority of the customers in the sample 34 are satisfied or
very satisfied with the service and online systems attributes. The study explores that companies
that offer a wide product portfolio and relevant website content accompanied by prompt and
courteous response create satisfaction online.
Thulani D., Tofara C. and Langton R. (2009) explore the extent of adoption and usage of
internet banking by commercial banks in Zimbabwe. The study concludes that while the majority
of the banks in Zimbabwe have adopted internet banking, usage levels have remained relatively
low, as not many customers are using this innovation in Zimbabwe. Compatibility with existing
legacy systems, cost of implementation and security concerns are the challenges faced by banks
in the adoption of IB. The implications of the study are that banks in Zimbabwe should
vigorously promote the usage of IB among customers while Government and the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe should increase investments targeted at infrastructure development so as to
encourage banks and individuals alike to adopt the innovation.
32. Hugar S.S. and Vaz N.H. (2008) evaluate the customer orientation in public sector banks for 5
public sector, 3 new private sector and 3 foreign banks are selected. The study concludes that
new private sector banks have more ATMs at the end of March 2006 followed by SBI group
where 77.5 pc branches are fully computerized and 18.2 pc are partially computerized. Business
per employee and profits per employee are higher in foreign banks where SBI has received more
number of complaints followed by ICICI. The study also suggests adopting CRM by public
sector banks to stand strong in competitive environment. Kaleem A. and Ahmad S. (2008) aims
to collect bank employees’ perceptions of the potential benefits and risks associated with
electronic banking in Pakistan. The study shows that public bank employees who have
professional degrees consider ‘minimizing transaction costs’ and ‘reduction in HR requirements’
as the most and the least important benefits of electronic banking respectively. Private bank
employees having masters or bachelor degrees, and less than 10 years experience, perceive ‘time
saving and minimizing inconvenience’ as the major benefits of electronic banking. Branch
managers viewed ‘facilitates quick response’ as the most important benefit of electronic banking.
Bankers in all segments consider ‘government access to data’ as the biggest risk associated to
electronic banking. The empirical analysis 35 suggests that bankers in Pakistan perceive
electronic banking as tool for minimizing inconvenience, reducing transaction costs and saving
time.
Migdadi Y.K.A. (2008) aims to identify the quality of internet banking service encounter of the
retail banks in Jordan, and to identify the quality dimensions that should be improved or
sustained. The study evaluates the banks' web sites by using the web site quantitative evaluation
method (QEM) in March 2008 for sixteen retail banks in Jordan. The results indicate that the
banks in Jordan have significant positive quality of the internet banking service encounter,
further the banks' web sites are rich in their content and significant in the navigation, but the
speed of home page down load and web site accessibility should be developed in the future.
Munusamy J. and Fong V. O. (2008) examine the level of customer satisfaction with regard to
IBBM’s training services. The study investigates the dimensions of service quality that have
significant effect on customer satisfaction in IBBM’s training services. The study finds that the
33. dimensions of service quality and customer knowledge are positively correlated to customer
satisfaction among IBBM’s corporate clients. However, only four factors, namely, competence,
credibility, accessibility, and tangibles have significant effect on customer satisfaction.
Therefore, the management of IBBM should focus efforts on upgrading areas of competence,
credibility, accessibility and tangibles in order to continually increase customer satisfaction for
continued profitability and success in training business.
Murali R., Richard S., Nafis A. and Mudiarasan K. (2008) evaluate consumer perceptions on
quality of e-services and Internet banking adoption in Malaysia. The data is collected from 150
retail banking customers of the Klang Valley area. Results show that Internet banking users and
non-users have different expectations towards e-service quality preferences. Not all of the
dimensions are preferable by the respondents. The study also discusses implications and
recommendations to improve Internet banking service quality in Malaysia.
Akter S. and Ghosh S.K. (2006) examine the gap between expectations and perceptions of
customers in Dhaka city of Bangladesh regarding banking services with a special focus on
SERVQUAL model. The study concludes that in four dimensions like reliability, empathy,
tangibility, assurance, the gap between perceptions and expectations is significant except
responsiveness where it is insignificant means banks do not extend that level of services which
will satisfy the customers’ expectations. The study also suggests some recommendations to
minimize this gap.
34. RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DATA SOURCE
Primary Data:
The primary data was collected by means of a survey. Questionnaires were
prepared and customers of the banks at two branches were approached to fill up the
questionnaires. The questionnaire contains 20 questions which reflect on the type
and quality of services provided by the banks to the customers. The response of the
customer and the is recorded on a grade scale of strongly disagree, disagree,
uncertain, agree and strongly agree for each question. The filled up information
was later analyzed to obtain the required interpretation and the findings.
Secondary Data:
In order to have a proper understanding of the service quality of bank a depth study
was done from the various sources such as books, a lot of data is also collected
from the official websites of the banks and the articles from various search engines
like Google, yahoo search and answers.com.
35. RESEARCHDESIGN
The research design is exploratory till identification of service quality parameters.
Later it becomes descriptive when it comes to evaluating customer perception of
service quality of the banks.
Descriptive research, also known as statistical research, describes data and
characteristics about the population or phenomenon being studied. Descriptive
research answers the questions who, what, where, when and how.
Although the data description is factual, accurate and systematic, the research
cannot describe what caused a situation. Thus, descriptive research cannot be used
to create a causal relationship, where one variable affects another. In other words,
descriptive research can be said to have a low requirement for internal validity.
The description is used for frequencies, averages and other statistical calculations.
Often the best approach, prior to writing descriptive research, is to conduct a
survey investigation. Qualitative research often has the aim of description and
researchers may follow-up with examinations of why the observations exist and
what the implications of the findings are
36. RESEARCHSAMPLE
SAMPLING PLAN:
Since it is not possible to study whole universe, it becomes necessary to take sample from the
universe to know about its characteristics.
Sampling Units: Customers of HDFC bank
Sample Technique: Random Sampling.
ResearchInstrument: Structured Questionnaire.
ContactMethod: Personal Interview.
SAMPLE SIZE:
The work is a case of HDFC Bank, one of the largest bank of Indian banking
industry together representing over 25 per cent of the market share of Indian
banking space. The survey was conducted in the city of Delhi with two branches of
HDFC Bank, with 50 customers as respondent.
37. DATA COLLECTION TOOL
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Agree
5. Strongly agree
Likert scaling is a bipolar scaling method, measuring either positive or negative
response to a statement. The questionnaire consists of two parts. The first part
consists of three questions concerning the demographic information of the
respondent such as the name, age, educational qualifications and income. The
second part consisting of 18 questions exploring the respondent’s perception about
the service quality of HDFC. For evaluation of service quality of HDFC bank
service quality dimension of reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy and
responsiveness is used in order to evaluate the actual service quality of HDFC
bank.
38. LIMITATIONS OF THE STRATEGY
The study is only for the HDFC Bank confined to a particular location and a
very small sample of respondents. Hence the findings cannot be treated as
representative of the entire banking industry.
The study can also not be generalized for public and private sector banks of
the country.
Respondents may give biased answers for the required data. Some of the
respondents did not like to respond.
Respondents tried to escape some statements by simply answering “neither
agree nor disagree” to most of the statements. This was one of the most
important limitation faced, as it was difficult to analyse and come at a right
conclusion.
In our study we have included 50 customers of bank because of time limit.
39. DATA ANALYSIS
Ques. Age
AGE CATEGORY FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
18-23 Years 10 20 20
24-29 Years 17 34 54
30-35 Years 15 30 84
35 Years and above 8 16 100
TOTAL 50 100
40. INTERPRETATION
From the table and graph above it can be seen that
20% respondent‟s age are 18 to 23 years.
34% respondent‟s age are 24 to 29 years.
30% respondent‟s age are 30 to 35 years..
16% respondent‟s age are 35 to above years.
18-23 Year
24-29 Year
30-35 Year
35 and above
20 %
34 %
30 %
16 %
42. INTERPRETATION
From the table above it can be seen that.
26% respondents are Under graduate.
40% respondents are Graduate.
34% respondents are Post graduate.
UNDERGARDUATE
GRADUATE
POST GRADUATE
26 %
40 %
34 %
43. TANGIBILITY DIMENSION OF SERVICE QUALITY (Questions1 to 4):
Physical facilities, equipments and appearance of personnel
Ques.1 HDFC bank has modern looking equipment.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
5 10 10
DISAGREE 25 50 60
UNCERTAIN 16 32 92
AGREE 4 8 100
TOTAL 50 100
44. INTERPRETATION
HDFC bank has modern-looking and hi-tech equipments. Here analysis show that most of the
respondents disagreed with this statement. Among the total respondents 50% disagreed, 32%
were neutral and 8% agreed. After analysis I found that majority of the respondents think that
HDFC Bank do not have modern looking equipments or no hi-tech equipments.
STRONGLY DISAGREE
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE50 %
32 %
10 %8 %
45. Ques.2 The bank's physical features are visually appealing.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 4 8 8
UNCERTAIN 29 58 66
AGREE 17 34 100
TOTAL 50 100
46. INTERPRETATION
HDFC bank‟s physical facilities are visually appealing. From this statement I found that 17
persons agreed. 29 persons were uncertain and 4 persons disagreed. This means 58% people
were uncertain about this statement. Out of the total respondents only 4% disagreed and no one
strongly agreed or disagreed with the statement. 17% people agreed that HDFC bank‟s physical
facilities are visually appealing.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
8 %
58 %
34 %
47. Ques.3 The bank's reception desk employees are neat appearing.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 5 10 10
UNCERTAIN 21 42 52
AGREE 18 36 88
STRONGLY
AGREE
6 12 100
TOTAL 50 100
48. INTERPRETATION
HDFC bank‟s employees appear neat. Here analysis shows that majority were neutral. Among
the total respondent 21 respondents were neutral, 18 people agreed and 6 respondents strongly
agreed. The rest disagreed. From analysis I found that some respondents agreed with this
statement but most of the respondents think the employees of the HDFC bank appear neat.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGY AGREE
42 %
10 %12 %
36 %
49. Ques.4 Materials associated with the service (such as pamphlets or statements) are visually
appealing at the bank.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 7 14 14
UNCERTAIN 22 44 58
AGREE 18 36 94
STRONGLY
AGREE
3 6 100
TOTAL 50 100
50. INTERPRETATION
Materials associated with the service are visually appealing at HDFC bank. Here 36%
respondents agreed with this statement and 6% strongly agreed with this statement. 44% were
neutral that is most and 14% disagreed. There was no respondent who strongly disagreed. Hence,
in general it can be concluded that materials associated with the services such as pamphlets or
statements are visually appealing.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY
14 %
44 %
36 %
6 %
51. RELIABILITY DIMENSION OF SERVICE QUALITY (Questions 5 to 8):
Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately
Ques.5 When the bank promises to do something by a certain time, it does so.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
2 4 4
DISAGREE 26 52 56
UNCERTAIN 5 10 66
AGREE 14 28 94
STRONGLY
AGREE
3 6 100
TOTAL 50 100
52. INTERPRETATION
My sample size was 50. Here analysis shows that among the total respondents 26 respondents
disagreed and 14 respondents agreed with this question. Also I found that 5 people were neutral
and 2 people strongly disagreed. Hence I concluded that majority of them disagreed that the bank
when promises to do something by certain time, it does so.
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
4%
DISAGREE
52%
UNCERTAIN
10%
AGREE
28%
STRONGLY
AGREE
6%
53. Ques. 6 When you have a problem, the bank shows a sincere interest in solving it.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 3 6 6
UNCERTAIN 14 28 34
AGREE 26 52 86
STRONGLY
AGREE
7 14 100
TOTAL 50 100
54. INTERPRETATION
When you have a problem, HDFC bank shows sincere interest in solving it. After analysing this
statement I found that most of the respondents agreed i.e. 52% respondents agreed. Also I found
that 28% were neutral with this statement and 6% were committed with disagree. There was no
one who strongly disagreed. Hence HDFC bank can be said to be reliable.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE
6 %
28 %
52 %
14 %
55. Ques.7 The bank performs the service right the first time.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
2 4 4
DISAGREE 8 16 20
UNCERTAIN 17 34 54
AGREE 17 34 88
STRONGLY
AGREE
6 12 100
TOTAL 50 100
56. INTERPRETATION
Total sample size was 50. Here analysis shows that among the total respondents 17 people
agreed with this statement. They think that HDFC bank performs the services right the first time.
6 people strongly agreed with this statement. Also 17 people were neutral and the rest of the
respondents disagreed and strongly disagreed.
STRONGLY DISAGREE
DISAGREE
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE
UNCERTAIN
4%
16%
34%
12%
34%
57. Ques.8 The bank insists on error free records.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 5 10 10
UNCERTAIN 10 20 30
AGREE 23 46 76
STRONGLY
AGREE
12 24 100
TOTAL
50 100
58. INTERPRETATION
Bank insists on error free records. HDFC bank has proved from my analysis that it surely insist
on error free records as 46% respondents agreed with this statement and 24% strongly agreed.
Only 10% respondents disagreed and no one strongly disagreed.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE
24 %
10%
20%
46%
59. RESPONSIVENESS DIMENSION OF SERVICE QUALITY (Question 9 to
12):
Willingness to help customers and provide prompt services
Ques. 9 Employees in the bank tell you exactly when the services will be performed.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
6 12 12
DISAGREE 8 16 28
UNCERTAIN 13 26 54
AGREE 18 36 90
STRONGLY
AGREE
5 10 100
TOTAL 50 100
60. INTERPRETATION
Employees in the bank tell you exactly when the services will be performed. Majority of the
respondents agreed with this statement. 26% respondents were uncertain. At the same time 16%
disagreed and 12% Strongly disagreed with this statement.
12%
16%
26%10%
36%
STRONGLY DISAGREE DISAGREE UNCERTAIN STRONGLY AGREE AGREE
61. Ques. 10 Employees in the bank give you prompt service.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 5 10 10
UNCERTAIN 16 32 42
AGREE 27 54 96
STRONGLY
AGREE
2 4 100
TOTAL 50 100
62. INTERPRETATION
Most of the respondents agreed with this statement. According to my analysis, employees in
HDFC Bank give prompt service. Among the total respondents agreed respondents were 27 and
strongly agreed were 2. 16 people were neutral and 5 disagreed. There was no respondent who
strongly disagreed with this statement.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE
54% 32%
10%4%
63. Ques.11 Employees in the bank are always willing to help you
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
UNCERTAIN 12 24 24
AGREE 29 58 82
STRONGLY
AGREE
9 18 100
TOTAL 50 100
.
64. INTERPRETATION
Employees in HDFC bank are willing to help you. With this statement no one disagreed or
strongly disagreed. Strongly agreed were 9 people i.e. 18% respondents strongly agreed, 29
people agreed i.e. 58% respondents agreed and 24% respondents were neutral.
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE
18% 24%
58%
65. Ques.12 Employees in the bank are never too busy to respond to your request.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 1 2 2
UNCERTAIN 11 22 24
AGREE 27 54 78
STRONGLY
AGREE
11 22 100
TOTAL 50 100
66. INTERPRETATION
Employees in HDFC Bank ltd are never too busy to respond to your request. After analyzing this
statement I found that most of the respondents agreed with this statement. Among the total
respondents 22% strongly agreed and 54% agreed. 11 respondents were neutral and 1 respondent
disagreed. No one strongly disagreed.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE
54%
22% 22%
67. ASSURANCE DIMENSION OF SERVICE QUALITY (Question13 to 16):
Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence
Ques.13 The employees of the bank are trustworthy.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 4 8 8
UNCERTAIN 13 26 34
AGREE 28 56 90
STRONGLY
AGREE
5 10 100
TOTAL 50 100
68. INTERPRETATION
The employees of the bank are trustworthy. According to my findings, 54% respondents agreed
that employees at HDFC bank are trustworthy. 13% respondents were neutral and 4%
respondents disagreed with this statement.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE
8%
56%
26%
10%
69. Ques.14 The behavior of employees in the bank instills confidence in you.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 28 56 56
UNCERTAIN 4 8 64
AGREE 13 26 90
STRONGLY
AGREE
5 10 100
TOTAL 50 100
70. S
INTERPRETATION
The behavior of employees in HDFC bank instills confidence in you. Here analysis shows that
most of the people disagreed. Among the total respondents 28 respondents disagreed, 13 agreed
and 5 strongly agreed. There was no respondent who strongly disagreed. This means 56%
respondent disagreed with this statement.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE
56%26%
10%
8%
71. Ques.15 You feel safe in your transactions with the bank.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 5 10 10
UNCERTAIN 16 32 42
AGREE 23 46 88
STRONGLY
AGREE
6 12 100
TOTAL 50 100
72. INTERPRETATION
With this statement most of the respondents agreed. Among the total respondents 23 agreed with
this statement and 6 strongly agreed. 32% respondents were neutral and 10% respondents
disagreed. But there no one who strongly disagreed.
1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
3rd Qtr
4th Qtr
46%
32%
12% 10%
73. Ques.16 Employees in the bank have the knowledge to answer your questions.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 2 4 4
UNCERTAIN 9 18 22
AGREE 26 52 74
STRONGLY
AGREE
13 26 100
TOTAL 50 100
74. INTERPRETATION
From my analysis I found that 54% respondents agreed that employees of HDFC bank have
complete knowledge to answer their questions. 26% respondents strongly agreed to this
statement and only 4% disagreed. 18% neither agreed nor disagreed.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE52%
26% 18%
4%
75. EMPATHY DIMENSION OF SERVICE QUALITY (Question17 to 20):
Caring and individualized attention that firm provides to its customers.
Ques.17 The bank gives you individual attention.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 26 52 52
UNCERTAIN 12 24 76
AGREE 10 20 96
STRONGLY
AGREE
2 4 100
TOTAL 50 100
76. INTERPRETATION
HDFC bank is not able to give individual attention to its customers as out of the total
respondents 54% disagreed with this statement. 12% of the respondents were neutral and only
12% agreed and 2% strongly agreed. From this finding it can be concluded that it is unable to
give individual attention to its customers.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE
52%
24%
20%
4%
77. Ques.18 The bank has operating hours convenient to all its customers.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 2 4 4
UNCERTAIN 14 28 32
AGREE 27 54 86
STRONGLY
AGREE
7 14 100
TOTAL 50 100
78. INTERPRETATION
HDFC bank has operating hours convenient to all its customers. Out of 50 respondents, 27
respondents agreed with this statement and only 2 respondents disagreed. Also 7 respondents
strongly agreed that the bank has operating hours convenient to its customers.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE
54%
28%
14%
4%
79. Ques.19 The bank has your interests best at heart.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
3 6 6
DISAGREE 5 10 16
UNCERTAIN 10 20 36
AGREE 25 50 86
STRONGLY
AGREE
7 14 100
TOTAL 50 100
80. INTERPRETATION
HDFC bank has your best interests at heart. Here analysis shows that 25 respondents agreed and
7 respondents strongly agreed with this statement. 20% were neutral and the rest disagreed and
strongly disagreed.
Strongly Disagree
6%
Disagree
11%
Uncertain
21%
Agree
54%
Strongly
Agree
8%
81. Ques.20 The employees of the bank understand your specific needs.
SCALE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE CUMULATIVE
PERCENTAGE
DISAGREE 5 10 10
UNCERTAIN 21 42 52
AGREE 20 40 92
STRONGLY
AGREE
4 8 100
TOTAL 50 100
82. INTERPREATION
Employees of HDFC bank understand specific needs. With this statement most of the
respondents were neutral. Among the total respondents 20 respondents agreed and 4 respondents
strongly agreed. 5 respondents disagreed with this statement.
DISAGREE
UNCERTAIN
AGREE
STRONGLY AGREE
42%40%
10%8%
83. MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS
Measuring the quality of a service can be a very difficult exercise. Unlike product
where there are specific specifications such as length, depth, width, weight, colour
etc. a service can have numerous intangible or qualitative specifications.
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) provide a list of determinants of service
quality: access, communication, competence, courtesy, credibility, reliability,
responsiveness, security, understanding, and tangibles. A total of five consolidated
dimensions of service quality are:
Tangibles (ques.1 to 4) - Physical facilities, equipments and appearance of
personnel
Reliability (ques.5 to 8) - Ability to perform the promised service dependably and
accurately
Responsiveness (ques.9 to 12) – Willingness to help customers and provide prompt
services
Assurance (ques.13 to 16) – (including competence, courtesy, credibility and
security) Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust
and confidence
Empathy (ques.17 to 20) – (including access, communication and understanding
the customer) Caring and individualized attention that firm provides to its
customer.
In order to calculate which dimension of service quality is performing well, a
sample of the questions are used in the questionnaire. Using the questionnaire,
obtain the score for each of the 20 statements. After analysis of the data, Overall
84. score to each statement is given on a scale of 1 to 5 i.e. 1 is given to strongly
disagreed i.e. the lowest score, then 2= disagreed, 3= uncertain, 4= agreed and 5=
strongly agreed.
Sum the score for each dimension of service quality to obtain a final score which
tells which
dimension is performing well and which dimension needs improvement.
The scores for each dimension are summed up and a final score is obtained:
SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSION Points
1. TANGIBILITY (1 TO 4)
11
2. RELIABILITY (5 TO 8)
13.5
3. RESPONSIVENESS (9 TO 12)
16
4. ASSURANCE (13 TO 16)
14
5. EMPATHY (17 TO 20)
13
85. FINDINGS OF THE REPORT
1. The Reliability dimension of service quality is better as compared to
empathy and tangibility. Still the score is low. For most services, customer‟s
perceptions of whether the service has been performed correctly, and not
provider-established criteria, are the major determinants of reliability.
Customers of the bank hesitate to rely on the bank. Whenever they have a
problem, the bank shows sincere interest in solving it but the services are not
performed by a certain time as promised. The employees should take this
problem seriously and take steps to remove this.
2. As score for Assurance is at second place after responsiveness, so the
customers of HDFC bank are very confident and feel safe while transacting
with the bank. Moreover the employees of the bank have proved to be
trustworthy. Employees are also educated enough to answer all the
questions.
3. The score of Tangibility dimension of service quality of HDFC bank is the
lowest. The service quality factor tangible is defined by whether the physical
facilities and materials associated with the service are visually appealing at
the bank. These are all factors that customers notice before or upon entering
the bank. Customer expectations regarding visual appealing of HDFC is very
high. From my study I found that Physical facilities and modern looking
equipment are not sufficient in HDFC bank. Respondents were uncertain
about the neat appearance of the reception desk employees. So they should
work on that and try to fulfill the gap.
86. 4. According to my findings, the score of Empathy is not satisfactory but not
unsatisfactory also. HDFC bank is unable to give individual attention to its
customers and is unable to understand specific needs of its customers. But
still bank has taken steps to satisfy its customers by keeping operating hours
convenient to its customers and keeping their interest best at heart.
5. In HDFC bank, the score of Responsiveness is highest so they are focusing
on prompt service, employees are willing to help the customers and say the
exact time when the services will be performed. Employees at bank give
their customers first preference and are always ready to help them. Overall
HDFC bank‟s responsiveness dimension of service quality is the highest.
6. According to the customer perception, HDFC bank is highly responsive.
Customers are assured while transacting with the bank. The reliability
dimension is lower than the first to dimension. They feel that the bank is
unable to give them individual attention and its equipments are not modern
and sufficient for the bank.
7. There is not much gap between all the dimensions, this shows that HDFC
BANK is a better service provider in all the dimensions i.e. reliability,
assurance, tangibility, responsiveness and empathy. As a result of which, the
customers are satisfied with the service offered by HDFC bank.
87. CONCLUSION
Based on the study conducted it can be concluded that responsiveness, assurance
and reliability are the critical dimensions of service quality of HDFC bank and they
are directly related to overall service quality. The factors that may delight
customers tend to be concerned more with the intangible nature of the service,
commitment, attentiveness, friendliness, care, and courtesy.
The employees give prompt services, always are ready to answer the
questions and are trustworthy. The main sources of dissatisfaction appear to be
cleanliness, up to date technology modern equipments, and neatly dressed up
employees. The Tangibility dimension of service quality of HDFC bank is highly
disappointing and serious steps are needed to be taken to enhance this dimension.
Customers of the bank are dissatisfied with the empathy dimension. To satisfy
these customers, the management can take some attempts, noted earlier as
recommendations.
The study brings about the areas which require urgent attention of
the employees, the management, and the policy makers of the industry. These are
areas in which customers are hugely dissatisfied with the services of the banks
against their expectation. This high degree of dissatisfaction resulting from the
services received clearly questions the design of services or subsequent response of
the bank employees. These limitations are too serious to be avoided as these
question the front-line people dealing with the customers and the approach of the
management in taking customers seriously.
The management should understand the benefits of service quality. It include
increased customer satisfaction, improved customer retention, positive word of
mouth, reduced staff turnover, decreased operating costs, enlarged market share,
increased profitability, and improved financial
88. performance. In the days of intense competition, superior service is the only
differentiator left before the banks to attract, retain and partner with the customers.
Superior service quality enables a firm to differentiate itself from its competition,
gain a sustainable competitive advantage, and enhance efficiency. Thus, improving
service quality leads to the customer satisfaction and, ultimately, to customer
loyalty.
89. RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Reliability is an obvious place to start. Customers of the bank want to know
their resources are safe and within trustworthy institutions. A way to ensure
this peace of mind would be to take steps to ensure bank employees are well
trained, so each bank associate is able to offer complete and comprehensive
information at all times. Consistent policies combined with a knowledgeable
staff will foster a high degree of institutional cohesion and reliability.
2. Responsiveness, again when associated with a well-trained staff and timely
answers to service-related questions, would make significant inroads into
causing HDFC bank be regarded as responsive. Staff should be encouraged
to present relevant options to banking customers in a manner that does not
resemble salesmanship so much as a desire to serve.
3. Intangibles please customers just as much as tangibles in the banking
industry. People tend to visit the same branch of a bank over and over again.
Usually, this is a location close to their home or their workplace. It is natural
that customers become comfortable and habituated to these branch banks,
for the same reason they develop familiarity with a neighborhood
supermarket or convenience store. It makes sense that bank employees
would be encouraged to learn to recognize these regular customers, learn
their names, and begin to identify their basic service requirements.
4. Learning to understand customers‟ needs will allow bank associates to offer
enhanced services, perhaps lowering customers‟ banking costs and
increasing their investment potential. This could also open up the possibility
of increased profits for banks, for when perceived as more service and
90. customer oriented, they will, in effect, become a useful and pleasant way to
“shop”.
5. Keeping the bank with up-to-date technologically are important factors.
Modern equipments, new improved technology should be replaced with the
old ones. If the staff inside is pleasant and well-informed, in an aesthetically
pleasing environment, then customer satisfaction will be high.
6. The five-dimensional structure could possibly serve as a meaningful
framework for tracking a bank‟s service quality performance over time and
comparing it against the performance of competitors. Items on some
dimensions should be expanded if that is necessary for reliability.
7. Thus, the banking industries must continuously measure and improve these
dimensions in order to gain customers‟ loyalty.
91. BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Kotler Philip, marketing management, (Pearson education, 12th edition)
Malhotra K. Naresh, marketing research (An applied orientation), Research design,
(Prentice hall of India pvt. 5th edition)
Zeithmal V. A., Grembler D.D., Bitner M.j., and Pandit A.: Service Marketing
Integrated customer Focus across the Firm” (4th Edition)
M.K. Rampal : Service Marketing
Websites
www.hdfcbank.com
www.hdfcindia.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.marketresearch.com
92. ANNEXURE
QUESTIONNAIRE
Respected Sir/Madam
Age:
Educational Qualifications
QUESTIONS Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neither
agree
Nor
disagree
Agree Strongly
Agree
1.HDFC bank has modern looking
equipment.
2.The bank's physical features are visually
appealing
3. The bank's reception desk employees
are neat appearing.
4. Materials associated with the service
(such as pamphlets or statements) are
visually appealing at the bank.
5. When the bank promises to do
something by a certain time, it does so.
93. 6. When you have a problem, the bank
shows a sincere interest in solving it.
7. The bank performs the service right the
first time.
8. The bank insists on error free records.
9. Employees in the bank tell you
exactly when the services will be
performed.
10. Employees in the bank give you
prompt service.
11. Employees in the bank are always
willing to help you.
12. Employees in the bank are never too
busy to respond to your request.
13. The employees of the bank are
trustworthy.
14. The behavior of employees in the
bank instills confidence in you.
15. You feel safe in your transactions
with the bank.
94. 16. Employees in the bank have the
knowledge to answer your questions.
17.The bank gives you individual
attention.
18. The bank has operating hours
convenient to all its customers
19. The bank has your best interests at
heart.
20. The employees of the bank understand
your specific needs.