g gopalakrishna : the importance of customer service speech by mr g gopalakrishna, executive director of the reserve bank of india, at the “ axis champions awards ”, mumbai, 1 october 2013. * * * i acknowledge with thanks contribution of shri r kesavan, gm, dept. of banking supervision, rbi, central office in preparing this speech. dr. sanjiv misra, chairman axis bank, smt. shika sharma, md and ceo, sr. executives and ladies and gentlemen, i have great pleasure in being a part of an event that hosts and toasts achievers who have excelled and left an indelible impression on customers by dint of exemplary work and service. i must congratulate axis bank for instituting these awards and felicitating their personnel, which i am sure will spur them on to better their own record and possibly also inspire many more to follow the example. banking is essentially a service oriented industry and no service is deemed complete unless it is accompanied by satisfaction of the people who avail the service. customer satisfaction and customer protection are the hallmarks of banking service. regulators and supervisors across the financial world have built policy edifices on strong foundations of consumer protection and customer service. in this context, it is indeed a commendable initiative on the part of the bank to train the employee to focus on customer service and reward exemplary service rendered by employees. i am sure that the bank will reach even greater heights in customer service while simultaneously enhancing the skills of personnel in this area. attributes of customer service have changed over the years. customers are more aware, there is a predominance of masses seeking tangible action to ensure that their rights as customers are upheld. more importantly, customers are becoming increasingly aware of banking ombudsman schemes, legal channels of redressal, consumer courts etc. the same has also been made possible on account of leaps that information technology has taken over the last one decade with information on the above channels being available widely. banking penetration through use of technology and the increase in number of non – face – to – face transactions adds a different dimension to the customer care paradigm. banking has truly become 24 x 7 locally and globally as well. these attributes have brought in more challenges than we had earlier assumed and banks have been compelled to not only live up to contemporary expectations but also look at enhancing skill - sets in information technology, human resources and transactional analysis for meeting future needs. it is not without any

##red is that, apart from need alone, there would be certain other factors such as ( i ) willingness of customers to embrace customer service methods and innovations, ( ii ) level of comfort while using an advanced technique including technological platforms, and ( iii ) cost that service providers incur to put in place an advanced technique to attract customers. prominent examples of such innovations used in the banking industry, which came to be embraced by more customers willingly with passage of time include micr technology, electronic payment systems viz. ecs, eft, neft, nfs, cts, various type of plastic cards etc. these products and innovations were primarily supply driven with a purposeful push by regulators themselves. these products were rolled out and banks were encouraged to make use of these products to render better, faster, safer and secure services to their customers. thus, at times, in the larger interests of customers and the financial world, certain initiatives have to be pushed forward by authorities and a need created for them. we could, in the same vein, cite financial inclusion as an example, that has been extensively driven by the regulators and the government of india to substantiate the above point. here is thus a classic case of customer need that is “ identified ” ( inclusive banking ), targeted ( publicity and outreach exercises, financial literacy initiatives ), implemented ( usage of business correspondents, face to face interactions, exhibitions and fairs to propagate the habit of using and operating bank accounts ) and innovated ( technology based transfers of funds to accounts [ ebt ] and the entire “ aadhar ” exercise to uniquely identify individuals and embed the same in opening / operation of bank accounts by customers ). that also leads us firmly to the premise that, perhaps in contemporary times, technology at the right time and juncture will help in furthering the cause of customer service. is technology the panacea to all customer service challenges? mostly yes, since technology speeds up ease of access of customers to service providers, enables easier communication and possibly also speeds up operations. however, there is an interesting and contrasting evidence that i choose to draw from one of the examples adduced by shri g padmanabhan, executive director in the reserve bank of india, who made a telling comment on the number of mobile banking accounts that had been opened in india. while the number seemed staggering and really impressive, a comparison with the number of bank accounts opened in india revealed that the former was but a relatively