What is agitating in the mind of Mrs Bhattacharya of SBI besides all other Chairmen of the Public sector Banks, perhaps may be the skill of technology with which some of the new entrants like Reliance, Airtel, Vodafone, Birla Group, Mahindra etc. come to the field of Banking.
The new entrants with all their back ground of technological skills would outwit the PSBs which are mostly worn out horses in the area of customer service with halh of their staff as dead stock.
There is every prospect that younger generation would be attracted by the techno- savy new entrants.
The so-called skill and tech-savviness etc., does not often get translated into better customer service, even for the genxt people. These young tech-savvy fellows are hot-headed usually and treat their customers like their slaves; they also show open contempt to the old people because the old people will not easily understand many of the new world jargon. At the end, I also heard that amounts deposited as FDs sometimes vanish into thin air because all records are centralized in the computer of the nodal office, covering hundreds of branches and a FD receipt will be received after 10 or 15 days direct from the nodal office. Those who can fight on the basis of the temporary cash receipt issued by the branch, may get a FD with a new date (and the bank gets the money free for so many days!) but others are taken for a ride!
Old PSBs have, therefore, not much to be afraid of the payment banks. The problem for the PSBs is not the deadwood but their NPAs.