State Bank of India: A Journey from Traditional Retail Banking to Consumer Driven Modern Banking

Before writing this article one small confession, “I’m not a Subject-Matter Expert in retail banking & I’m not a huge fan of SBI’s banking service. It is like a tiny experience with a big impact on my perception.”

State Bank of India, popularly known as SBI always claims that – “With you all the way. Pure banking nothing else. The nation's bank on us.” But if you have ever visited an overcrowded SBI branch you might not have experienced these big, catchy taglines. The reasons, you know better than me.

The feeling might be same for the Internet Banking Service (INB) of SBI. You might have tried booking one IRCTC tatkal ticket using SBI INB, you might not have received the One-Time Password (OTP) ever. You might have done some urgent transaction but might have received the OTP, 30 minutes after the transaction. Tons of examples are there and my perception was neither different.

But this Independence day- my perception about SBI INB has changed (but remained same for the overcrowded branches). It was like WOW!! Is it real? SBI INB does have this service?

Let me share this WOW experience with you.

Fortunately or unfortunately my SBI debit card got expired on August 2016 and SBI had sent a new debit card to my home address. I got it and this was a timely service. But there was a catch. Once you receive a new card you have to visit your home SBI branch (in-person) and have to collect the new PIN within 45 days of your card receiving date. I’m staying around 2000 KMs away from my SBI home branch and it was practically impossible for me to visit the branch and collect the new PIN.

I read all the instruction documents which came with the debit card. Nothing mentioned about e-generation of new PIN. The same old stuff… visiting the branch blah blah… mentioned there. I got disappointed and thought how could the largest bank of India with such a robust internet banking facility have no such facilities. I searched in Google- “How to generate PIN for your SBI Credit Card” I thought, I won’t get any satisfactory answer. 

But I did get. Like other private banks, SBI INB has something. (https://www.sbicard.com/en/personal/benefits/money-simplified/atm-cash.page). WOW!! It was so simple and so convenient to create a new PIN even without going to the branch. But it was never mentioned in the documents, such a big MISS. The communication is pretty inconsistent across all the channels. This is not the only example. You might have experienced such instances. For a brand like SBI- it creates a huge perceptual gap in the mind of a conscious customer. 

So, my gentle request to SBI, please be consistent across all the customer touch points- be it the traditional touch points or the new digital e-touch points. It might be a good starting point for the BRAND SBI.