Opinion : The ICICI BANK Trouble

The ICICI BANK, one of the largest bank in India with a still largest network of ATM centers. When this bank first entered in common consumer market I was amazed by quality of their service. The ATM service introduced by them was really a boon for consumers like us to get money anytime 24/7/365. This was new for us who were used to go to bank during working hours (taking a half day leave for the purpose), and then stand in long queues to submit withdrawal slips and to find that cashier have closed the counter for a lunch time, toilet break or just because he wants to take a nap. This all changed when ATM network is built up by banks which we never dreamed before though we knew such thing exists in western countries, I thought it will not be possible in India this fast, putting cash on road without getting looted. ICICI proved it a reality by successfully operating it throughout the country.

Ever since the ICICI consumer base is gradually increasing and they are finding it difficult to cope up with them as their infrastructure is not expanding with it. I am a customer of ICICI housing finance living in Pune. I use their Apte road office here for my regular dealing with the company. I availed the loan some three years ago. The floor space and staff of the bank office is same today as it was three years ago but the customer base have increased ten folds. Now how can you expect the same number of staff to deal with ten times the number of customers with the same enthusiasm and efficiency? The result is clear, the overcrowded and chaotic office with a lot of unsatisfied customers because their work is not being done in time or error in their dealings. I was also a victim of this horrendous experience.

I go to this branch only once in a year to get a provisional certificate for income tax purpose. Every year I visit the bank, I find myself in deep trouble due one or other reason. The most common problem was change in my property address. Every year when I visit the bank I find my property address either totally changed or scrambled (like my bldg no. is shown as flat no. and vice versa). I complained this to local branch manager but every time he denied any malfunction of their system and insisted that I must have submitted wrong data to bank. Now I don’t understand why I should give a wrong data to bank? Each year I am asked to fill a form called customer address change form to correct the address and I get due confirmation letter from bank by post that my address is corrected with old and new address mentioned in it. But when I visit the bank next year, I find my address changed again and this is going on since last three years without break.

Since branch manager and other people at Apte road branch were united together as team to save each other from customers, I decided to approach some higher authority. But even after a relentless search on earth and on net I could not find any direct contact number or mail address of any ICICI top bosses. Only I could find was a customer support mail which is never answered (even the customer support people are also part of same system and they try to defend their colleagues from customer complaints instead of resolving the problem). I don’t know how such a customer unfriendly banking system is going to survive? Mr. K. V. Kamat should look at improving their banking system than being a mediator between the Ambanis. Otherwise this bank will not survive for long in the future. I think this is a common problem with all Indian enterprises and hence they are nowhere in global scenario. I always wondered how come American companies, Japanese companies are able become multinational and do their business worldwide and not a single Indian company is able to make its mark on global scale. Why McDonald is able to sell 50Rs. Burger in India and any Indian entrepreneur is not able to sell 5Rs. Wadpav in USA. I think I have found the answer.