International Journal of Current Research

Int.J.Curr.Res.Aca.Rev.2017; 5(12): 25-33 International Journal of Current Research and Academic Review ISSN: 2347-3215 (Online) ҉ Volume 5 ҉ Number 12 (December-2017) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcrar.com doi: https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcrar.2017.512.004 Customer Preferences for Banking Products between Private and Public Sector Banks in Chennai City K. S. Nirmal Kumar* Department of Bank Management, The New College, Chennai – 600 014, Tamil Nadu, India *Corresponding author Article Info Abstract The reform process initiated in the banking sector in the country has brought in the New Age private banks, which are quite aggressive in their operation. They are now playing a crucial role in attracting deposits from the customers, providing advances to various sections of society and thereby giving a tough competition to the public sector banks (PSBs) not only in terms of quantity, but also in terms of quality. The private sector banks have brought in many new products like credit cards, debit cards. ATMs, internet banking etc. The PSBs have been forced to extend these facilities, which they are struggling to do, since decision making takes time. Private sector banks have also extending facilities like share trading, commodity trading, saving and current accounts and term deposits with new features. This has led to the situation, where the customers now opine that the private sector banks are aggressive and more tech savvy in their operations in attracting customers and in providing more and newer products to them, while the PSBs are less efficient and not quite forthcoming in extending new facilities to their customers. However, there is also a general opinion that the public sector banks are more secured compared to the private sector banks, since the former are backed directly by the Government, which provides a lot of satisfaction to their customers. The PSBs score over the private sector banks on one count, while the later score over the former on another count. This calls for a close scrutiny from the view point of customers regarding their preferences for the saving and investment products provided by the banks that belong to the two sectors with the help of primary data, which is the basic thrust of the present study. Accepted: 28 November 2017 Available Online: 20 December 2017 Keywords Banks, Customers, Products and Services, PSB‟s and Private sector banks, Prefernces, etc. investment with the help of banks. When banks offer handsome interest on savings, people can be induced to direct their savings from wasteful activities to banks, moreover the Government of India has now undertaken many measures including better financial inclusion for the economic reconstruction of the country. Banks can generate an adequate volume of credit and supply it along useful productive channels. Introduction Capital formation is the foremost requisite for development in any country and especially so in a developing country. People need to channelize their surplus income into saving products, which can be then converted into 25 Int.J.Curr.Res.Aca.Rev.2017; 5(12): 25-33 providing more and newer products to them, while the PSBs are less efficient and not quite forthcoming in extending new facilities to their customers. However, there is also a general opinion that the public sector banks are more secured compared to the private sector banks, since the former are backed directly by the Government, which provides a lot of satisfaction to their customers. The PSBs score over the private sector banks on one count, while the later score over the former on another count. This calls for a close scrutiny from the view point of customers regarding their preferences for the saving and investment products provided by the banks that belong to the two sectors with the help of primary data, which is the basic thrust of the present study. Banking System in India The banking system plays an important role in the economic development of any country. It comprises of the banking institutions functioning in the country and it includes from the central bank to all banking institutions which are functioning and providing financial facilities to any developmental sector like agriculture, industries, trade, etc. Under the Indian banking structure, central bank in the name of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulates, directs and controls the banking institutions. Separate institutions are functioning to meet the financial requirement of different sectors of the economy. Competition in the Banking Sector After the reform process has been initiated in the banking sector, many new private banks have been entered, which are being called as New Age – Tech Savvy Banks along with the foreign banks. This has clearly increased the level of competition in the commercial banking segment of the banking sector in the country. Though private banks have been in operation even before 1991, the arrival of new age banks have considerably altered the picture. The public sector commercial banks which did not face any serious competition in the pre – 1991 period, now compelled to pull up their socks to compete with the new private banks. These New Age Tech Savvy banks are quite aggressive in introducing the new banking products, better service delivery and also customer sastisfaction. Objectives of the Study To analyse the expansion of the sample banks from the two sectors in India. To analyse the products and services used by the respondents from the selected banks in the study area. To examine the preferences for the banking products by the sample respondents. Methodology of the Study The main aim of this study is to examine the customer‟s preferences for the various banking products being offered by public and private sector banks in Chennai city. For this purpose, three major public sector banks, viz., State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bank of Baroda (BoB) have been selected, and from the private sector, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank, have been selected as the sample private banks. The extent of expansion of the public and the private sector banks in general and that of the six sample banks at the All-India level have been examined with the help of secondary data during the period 2000 – 01 to 2014 - 15. The choice of the customers for the banking products provided by the public and private sector banks have been gathered through a field survey. Significance of the Problem The reform process initiated in the banking sector in the country has brought in the New Age private banks, which are quite aggressive in their operation. They are now playing a crucial role in attracting deposits from the customers, providing advances to various sections of society and thereby giving a tough competition to the public sector banks (PSBs) not only in terms of quantity, but also in terms of quality. The private sector banks have brought in many new products like credit cards, debit cards. ATMs, internet banking etc. The PSBs have been forced to extend these facilities, which they are struggling to do, since decision making takes time. Private sector banks have also extending facilities like share trading, commodity trading, saving and current accounts and term deposits with new features. This has led to the situation, where the customers now opine that the private sector banks are aggressive and more tech savvy in their operations in attracting customers and in Sampling Design The sampling technique used in this study is multi – stage purposive sampling method. To begin with, Chennai city has been purposively selected since all major public and private sector banks operate in this city and they provide all products and services. In the next 26 Int.J.Curr.Res.Aca.Rev.2017; 5(12): 25-33 funds, mutual funds, Government investment bonds and also share market. stage, Adayar has been selected as the study area, since it is one of the highly developed areas, both residential and business term wise. The selected bank branches each have more than 30,000 customers, though some of them operate their account vary rarely. Hence, it was difficult to determine the exact number of active accounts in each and so, a proportionate sampling technique could not be attempted. Thus a total of 300 customers each from the Public and private sector banks have been selected as the sample respondents and hence, a total of 600 respondents form the sample size of the present study. The table indicates that the number of commercial banks in India has gone up quite considerably from 89 in 1969, at the time of nationalization of banks to 222 in 2006, a rise of around 150% cumulatively during the four decades period. However, since then the number of commercial banks has declined continuously to 151 in 2014, a decline by 32% in just eight years. The growth in the number of scheduled commercial banks too has witnessed a similar pattern, as its number has gone up from 73 to 218 between 1969 and 2006, but has come down to 146 in 2014. The number of regional rural banks has decreased quite markedly from 133 to 57 in the last eight years, witnessing a decline of 57%, which underscores the fact that growing urbanization has been reducing the necessity of rural banks in the country. Analytical Tools Used In the Study The following statistical tools have been used in this study in order to analyse the secondary and primary data: ratio analysis, charts and diagrams, summary statistics. According to Athukorala and Jayasuriya (1994) (1), individual‟s willingness to take financial risk is an important factor in investment. Some are more security motivated than others. Their security motivation is seen in all phases of life, but is particularly apparent regarding financial risk. Some are more risk oriented than others. Their risk tolerance is seen in all phases of life, but it is particularly apparent regarding financial risk. The number of bank branches has grown quite tremendously from 8262 in 1969 to 69471, a growth of more than 740% for a period of four decades, signifying the importance and success of nationalization of banks, which had a main objective of increasing the rural spread of the banking activities. The number of branches has gone further up to 1,17,280 in 2014, a growth of more than 68% in eight years. Hence though the number of commercial banks has come down in the last eight years, the number of bank branches has gone up in the same period. King and Levine (1994) (2), noted that savings become investment particularly among those who earn sufficiently higher. They expect some return from their savings and thus, invest in such assets like bank or post office deposits, and others. However, investment in land, which involves huge amount, cannot take place among all the households. Deposit mobilized by the commercial banks has grown from Rs.46 billion in 1969 to Rs.21090 billion in 2006, which has produced a seven percent growth per annum over the period, while it has gone up to Rs.79,134 billion in 2014, which indicates a growth of 3.4% per annum over the period. Jha et al., (2009) (3), Opined that after financial liberalization, with more efficient financial intermediation, greater opportunities for diversification across financial assets and market related returns, financial savings has gained increasing importance. Within financial assets, there has been a change in the preference of saving instrument in recent years. Thus, the deposit mobilized per bank branch has moved up from Rs.5.6 million in 1969 to Rs.674.70 million in 2014. The credit extended by the commercial banks has increased from Rs.36 billion in 1969 to Rs.61,390 billion in 2014, which is 46% growth per annual over the period. The contribution of the commercial banks can further be understood when it is noted that the deposits gathered by them as percentage of national income has gone up from 15.5% in 1969 to 86.3% in 2014, while the share of priority sector lending by the commercial banks has also moved up from 15% to 35.7% in the same period. This brings out the fact that the commercial banks have grown over the period quite remarkably and their contribution to the economy in terms of deposit Jain (2011) (4), examined the preferences made by investors among various saving and investment products in Gujarat and found that there is a significant relationship between the level of education and the nature of products opted by investors, since those with less education opted for the traditional products like chit funds, private finance, gold and silver, while those with higher education opted for modern products like pension 27 Int.J.Curr.Res.Aca.Rev.2017; 5(12): 25-33 transactions through their mobile phone and it also offers a hassle free service. A total of 239 respondents make use of net banking which include 84 (35.1 per cent) belonging to the public sector banks and 155 respondents (64.9 per cent) from the private sector banks, which again reiterates the fact that the use of technology based mode of banking is higher among the respondents who are associated with the private sector banks than in the case of public sector banks. mobilization, lending in general and also to the priority sector has also been quite significant. It is observed from the table that the Market share of the selected banks in terms of their deposits indicates that the highest share is held by SBI with 17.6% which is followed by 7.2% in case of BoB and 5.7% in the case of Punjab National Bank. However, in the case of private sector banks, none of them could reach more than 5% market share, as 4.6% for HDFC Bank, 4.2% for Axis Bank and 3.5% for ICICI Bank. This suggests that the three PSB‟s jointly account for 30.5% of the total market share in terms of their deposits. The net interest margin (NIM) earned by the banks is an important indicator in understanding their capacity, since banks are now allowed to fix their own rate of interest for both deposits and lending. The table shows that the Tier I capital adequacy ratio is quite higher in the case of the private sector banks compared to that of the public sector banks. All the public sector bans have a ratio of less than 10%, while it is 14.1% in the case of ICICI Bank, 13.5% for HDFC Bank and 10.2% for Axis Bank. This is not surprising given the fact that public sector banks depend on the Government to strengthen their capital adequacy, while it is not so in the case of the private sector banks. This makes the latter to be much safer in terms of their capital adequacy as mandated by the RBI. This underscores the technological advancement of the private sector banks over that of the public sector banks, since the customers opine that the former provides a better and faster and also a safer service without any glitches compared to that of the public sector banks. Locker facility is another service being offered by the banks, which is used by 325 respondents, which consist of 194 (59.7 per cent) who are linked with the public sector banks and 131 respondents (40.3 per cent) who are associated with the private sector banks. Hence, the use of locker facility is more in the case of those who hold their accounts with the public sector banks than in the case of the private sector banks, as the respondents view that the charges need to be paid for locker facility is less in the case of the former than in the case of the latter and it is also opined that the former is much safer. Money transfer is another facility which has been introduced by the banks of late, through which customers can transfer money to recipients without any paper work from their bank branches, apart from the mobile and net banking facilities. This is done with the help of debit cards issued by the banks, which eases the way in which the transaction is carried out. Among the respondents, 338 indicate that they make use of this facility, in which 129 (38.2 per cent) are from the public sector banks, while the remaining 209 respondents (61.8 per cent) are from the private sector banks. Moreover, cash deposit machines are also now used, like cash withdrawal machines by the banks in order to reduce the waiting time of their customers. This again underscore the dominance of the private sector banks, which first introduced the use of debit cards and has reduced the use of cheque books and thus quite eco-friendly in nature. Preferences For The Products & Services Used By The Respondents The sample respondents make use of various products and services that are provided by the selected banks in the study area. All banks provide almost all products and services, though not all of them are used by all customers. Moreover, the extent of preferences for the products and services also stem from the level of satisfaction and safety enjoyed by the customers from the same. Thus, it is quite important to understand the nature of products and services being used by the respondents, which is done in this section. Table 3 presents the sector wise preferences of the respondents for the products and services used by them. It is inferred from the table that a total of 133 respondents prefer using mobile banking, which consists of 41 (30.8 per cent) from the public sector banks and 92 (69.2 per cent) from the private sector banks. Thus, the use of mobile banking is more among the respondents who hold their accounts in the private sector banks than in the case of the public sector banks, since the former feel more secure and safe in carrying out their banking The savings account facility too has now become more futuristic with many facilities and the current account facility also provides important add-on benefits like over-draft. While saving account facility is more used by those who are associated with the public sector banks, the current account facility is more used by those who 28 Int.J.Curr.Res.Aca.Rev.2017; 5(12): 25-33 latter. The service minded nature of the public sector banks is more evident in these facilities compared to the private sector banks, which are driven more by profit earning. are linked with private sector banks. Similarly, the use of term deposits like the RD and FD are used more by the customers who belong to the public sector banks than that of the private sector banks, since they opine that the former provide a better rate of interest than that of the Table.1 Commercial Banks in India at a Glance, 1969 to 2014 Important Indicators 1969 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 No. of Commercial Banks 89 222 183 175 170 169 169 173 155 151 (a) Scheduled Commercial Banks 73 218 179 171 166 165 165 169 151 146 Of which: Regional Rural Banks 133 96 91 86 82 82 82 64 57 (b) Non-Scheduled Comm. Banks 16 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 Number of Offices of Scheduled 8262 69471 71839 76050 80547 85393 90263 98330 105437 117280 Commercial Banks in India (a) Rural (in %) 22.2 44.0 42.5 40.9 39.3 38.2 37.3 37.0 37.2 38.5 (b) Semi-Urban (in %) 40.5 22.4 22.8 23.2 23.6 24.3 25.3 26.2 26.7 26.8 (c) Urban (in %) 19.2 17.3 18.1 18.9 19.5 19.9 19.4 19.1 18.9 18.3 (d) Metropolitan (in %) 18.2 16.3 16.6 17.0 17.6 17.6 18.0 17.7 17.2 16.4 Population per office (in thousands) 64 16 15 15 14.5 13.8 13.4 12.3 11.9 10.8 Deposits of Scheduled Commercial Banks in India 46 21090 26119 31969 38341 44928 52080 59091 69343 79134 (Rs. Billion) of which: (a) Demand 21 3646 4297 5243 5231 6456 6417 6253 7672 8272 (b) Time 25 17444 21822 26726 33110 38472 45663 52838 61671 70862 Credit of Scheduled Commercial Banks in India 36 15071 19312 23619 27755 32448 39421 46119 53932 61390 (Rs. Billion) Deposits of Scheduled Commercial Banks per 5.6 303.6 363.1 420.4 476 526.1 577 600.9 657.7 674.7 office (Rs. Million) Credit of Scheduled Commercial Banks per office 4.4 216.9 268.5 310.6 344.6 380 436.7 469 511.5 523.5 (Rs. Million) Per Capita Deposits of Scheduled Commercial 88 19276 23468 28327 33471 38062 43034 48732 55445 62252 Banks (Rs.) Per Capita Credit of Scheduled Commercial Banks 68 13774 17355 20928 24230 27489 32574 38033 43123 48294 (Rs.) Deposits of Scheduled Commercial Banks as 15.5 73.8 79.1 84.4 88.1 86.6 82.3 81.1 84.0 86.3 percentage of National Income Scheduled Commercial Banks' Advances to 5 5468 7038 8248 9674 11384 13373 14909 18180 21549 Priority Sector (Rs. Bill.) Share of Priority Sector Advances in Total Credit of Scheduled 14 37.2 36.5 34.9 34.8 35.1 33.9 32.3 33.7 35.1 Commercial Banks (per cent) Share of Priority Sector Advances in Total Non-Food Credit of Scheduled 15 38.2 37.4 35.6 35.4 35.6 34.5 32.9 34.3 35.7 Commercial Banks (per cent) Credit Deposit Ratio 77.5 71.5 73.9 73.9 72.4 72.2 75.7 78 77.8 77.6 Investment Deposit Ratio 29.3 35.5 30.3 30.4 30.4 30.8 28.8 29.4 28.8 28.3 Cash Deposit Ratio 8.2 6.6 7.5 8.6 6.7 6.8 6.7 6.1 5.6 5.4 Source: Indian Banking Sector at a Glance, Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai, 2014-15. 29 Int.J.Curr.Res.Aca.Rev.2017; 5(12): 25-33 Table.2 Important Indicators of the Selected Banks, 2014-15 Bank State Bank of India Punjab National Bank Bank of Baroda ICICI Bank HDFC Bank Axis Bank Market Share (%) 17.6 5.7 7.2 3.5 4.6 4.2 NIM (%) 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.7 3.6 4.1 Tier I Capital (%) 9.6 9.2 9.9 14.1 13.5 10.2 RONW (%) 11.3 24.2 24.6 11.5 17.3 16.9 Gross NPA (%) 4.2 2.1 1.6 4.1 1.3 1.3 Source: Balance Sheet of the respective banks, 2014-15. Table.3 Sector-wise Products and Services used by the Respondents from the Selected Banks Products and Services Mobile banking Net banking Locker facility Money transfer Savings account Current account Term deposits Demat account OD facility Sector Public Sector No. 41 84 194 129 262 49 248 24 86 Total Private Sector No. % 92 69.2 155 64.9 131 40.3 209 61.8 234 47.2 79 61.7 173 41.1 53 68.8 124 59.0 % 30.8 35.1 59.7 38.2 52.8 38.3 58.9 31.2 41.0 No. 133 239 325 338 496 128 421 77 210 % 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Source: Computed from primary data. Table.4 Sector-wise Ranking of Reasons for Banks‟ Preference by the Respondents Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Reasons Public Sector Banks Reliability Rate of Interest Banking charges Access to banks Overdraft facility ATM network Anytime Banking Working efficiency Use of technology Quick completion of work Security of sites Approach of bank staff Working hours Private Sector Banks Use of technology Working efficiency Working hours Approach of bank staff Security of sites Anytime Banking Quick completion of work ATM network Overdraft facility Access to banks Reliability Rate of Interest Banking charges Mean SD Min Max 3.286 3.756 4.365 4.965 5.625 6.146 6.829 7.334 7.904 8.650 9.457 9.886 10.324 4.325 4.962 5.462 5.887 6.134 6.867 8.104 8.668 9.128 9.799 10.658 11.865 13.462 1 1 2 3 4 4 5 4 6 5 7 7 8 3 4 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 12 13 13 3.270 3.892 4.780 5.440 6.211 6.811 7.782 8.357 9.014 9.296 10.016 10.409 10.732 4.234 4.823 5.334 5.732 6.035 6.732 7.865 8.425 9.117 9.886 10.896 12.235 13.762 1 2 3 4 6 5 7 9 8 8 9 10 11 2 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 12 13 13 Note: SD – Standard Deviation. Source: Computed from field survey data. 30 Int.J.Curr.Res.Aca.Rev.2017; 5(12): 25-33 Sampling Design Public Sector Bank of Baroda Punjab National Bank State Bank of India Total No. of Sample Respondents 80 90 130 300 Private Sector ICICI Bank HDFC Bank Axis Bank Total No. of Sample Respondents 120 95 85 300 the first rank is „use of technology‟ and it is followed by „working efficiency‟ and „working hours‟ for the third rank. This clearly underlines the fact that the reasons that attract the respondents for their preference for the banks differ among them. Demat account facility is of recent origin, which has become a reality with the SEBI allowing the transaction of shares in electronic form. This allows the customers to buy, sell and hold their shares in both primary and secondary markets through internet facility. The private sector banks started to provide such facility, which is now also being done by the public sector banks. The data indicate that 77 respondents make use of such facility, which includes 24 (31.2 per cent) from the public sector banks and the remaining 53 respondents (68.8 per cent) from the private sector banks. This suggests that the facilities like locker facility, savings account and term deposits used more by those who are associated with the public sector banks, while in the case of other facilities like mobile banking, net banking, money transfer, current, demat and OD facility is used more by those who are linked with the private sector banks than in the case of the public sector banks. It is noted that in the case of the public sector banks, the first rank is attained by „Reliability‟ by the respondents with a mean value of 3.286, since the respondents opine that the public sector banks are more reliable, as they are directly backed by the Government and they view that their hard earned money is quite safe and secure with the public sector banks. Even at the times of any eventuality, respondents opine that the Government will vouch them safe. The standard deviation value of 4.325 indicates that the variation in the values of rank given by the respondents do not deviate much. Moreover, the rank ranges from a low of 1 to a high of 3. Thus, the respondents have given the highest rank to the reliability of the public sector banks as the foremost reason for preferring them. Ranking The Reasons For Bank’s Preferences by the Respondents This is followed by, „rate of interest‟ as the second preferred reason for the selection of the public sector banks with a mean value of 3.756 and a standard deviation value of 4.962. It ranges from a low of 1 to a high of 4. This underlines the fact that the public sector banks which are regulated by the RBI and have the social responsibility to serve the society, provide better rate of interest for the savings and investment made by the customers, while the interest charged by them for the loans taken by the customers is also quite competitive. This has made the respondents to assign the second rank to this reason for their preference of the public sector banks. The respondents prefer the banks between the public sector and private sector depending on various reasons and obviously these reasons vary among them. For this purpose, the respondents have been asked to rank the reasons for the choice of their banks. In this section, these ranks are analysed on the basis of the ranks given by them. The mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values have been calculated on the basis of the ranks given by them. The reason which receives the least rank is the most important reason for the choice of the bank. Moreover, these mean ranks are calculated separately for the two sectors and Table – 5.16 presents the sector-wise summary statistics of the ranks given by the respondents for the reasons for their preferences. Charge levied by the public sector banks for various services and products rendered by them, the respondents opine is the third most important reason for the preference given to the public sector. It has attained the mean score of 4.365 with a minimum of 2 and a maximum rank of 4 and hence, the standard deviation value is 5.462. As noted above, the public sector banks are driven more by their social commitment, which A cursory glance at the table indicates that the ranks given to each of the reason differs between the public sector banks and private sector banks, depending on their mean values. For instance, in the case of the public sector banks, „reliability‟ attains the first rank, followed by „rate of interest‟, and „banking charges‟, while in the case of the private sector banks, the reason which attains 31 Int.J.Curr.Res.Aca.Rev.2017; 5(12): 25-33 makes them to charge reasonably, which is preferred mostly by the respondents. enabled the private sector banks to attain better working efficiency, which attracts the customers to this sector. The third rank is attained by „working hours‟ since it has the mean score of 4.780 with a standard deviation value of 5.334 and the rank ranges from 3 to 5. The private sector banks work for longer hours compared to the public sector banks, which do not work beyond 4.00 PM in the evening. The longer working hours being offered by the private sector banks enable their customers to carry out their banking activities even in late hours and they quite enjoy such facility. „Access to banks‟ is given the fourth rank by the respondents as the reason for preferring the public sector banks with a mean score of 4.965 and a standard deviation value of 5.887 and it ranges from a low of 3 and a high of 5, which underlines the fact that there is less variations in the opinions given by the respondents. This suggests that the opinions given by the public sector bank customers rank access to the banks as the important reason for preferring them. This is followed by other reasons like, „overdraft facility‟ with a mean score of 5.625 with a minimum value of 4 and a maximum value of 6; the „ATM network‟ of the public sector banks has attained the sixth rank with a mean value of 6.146 and its low rank is 4 and the high rank is 7; „anytime and anywhere banking‟ has given the seventh rank with a mean score of 6.829 and its standard deviation value is 8.104; the reasons that succeed are: „working efficiency‟ with the mean value of 7.334 for the eighth rank; „use of technology‟ for the ninth rank with a mean score of 7.904; tenth rank is attained by „quick completion of work‟ as it has taken the mean value of 8.650; „security of the websites‟ of the public sector banks has attained the 11th rank and its mean value is 9.457; „approach of bank staff‟ with a mean score of 9.886 has taken the 12th rank and finally, „working hours‟ has taken the 13th rank with a mean value of 10.324 and its rank ranges from a low of 8 to a high of 13. Thus, the last three ranks have been give to the reasons like security of websites of the public sector banks, approach of their staff members and their working hours, since they are least preferred reasons, as opined by the respondents. The respondents opine that approach of the staff members in the private sector banks is quite courteous and responsive, which enable them to complete their banking transactions quite quickly and efficiently. Thus, this reason has attained the mean value of 5.440 for the fourth rank and it ranges from a low of 4 to a high of 7 and this has resulted in the standard deviation value of 5.732. „Security of the websites‟ has attained the fifth rank with a mean value of 6.211 and it ranges from a minimum rank of 6 and a maximum rank of 8; the sixth rank is taken by „anytime and anywhere banking‟ since its mean score stands at 6.811 and it is followed by reasons like „quick completion of work‟ for the seventh rank with a mean value of 7.782, „ATM network‟ for the eighth rank as its mean score is 8.357; „overdraft facility‟ stands at the ninth position with a mean value of 9.014; „access to banks‟ is ranked tenth, since its mean score is 9.296; „reliability‟ has taken only the 11th rank, since the respondents opine that the private sector banks are not as dependable as the public sector banks, as they do not have the direct backing of the Government, even though they are regulated by the norms of the RBI; „rate of interest‟ has taken a mean value of 10.409 for the 12th rank, while the final rank is attained by „banking charges‟ with a mean score of 10.732. Hence, the rate of interest and the charges levied by the private sector banks, which are driven by their profit motive are more for all transactions. Hence, the ranking of the reasons for preferring the two sectors by the respondents indicates that in the case of the public sector banks, the top three reasons are: reliability, rate of interest and banking charges, which are more preferred, while the least preferred reasons are: security of websites, approach of bank staff and working hours. On the other hand, in the case of the private sector banks, the three foremost reasons are: use of technology, working efficiency and working hours, while the least preferred reasons are: reliability, rate of interest and banking charges. In the case of the private sector banks, the foremost reason for preferring them is „use of technology‟ as it has taken the lowest mean value of 3.270 with a standard deviation value of 4.234, which underscores the minimum variation in the opinions, since it ranges from a low of one to a high of two. The respondents opine that the use of technology in various spheres of the banking activities of the private sector has enabled it to become the most preferred sector from their view point. This enables them to carry out their banking transactions in a quicker and better manner. „Working efficiency‟ of the private sector banks has taken the second rank with a mean value of 3.892 and it ranges from a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 4 and thus, it standard deviation is 4.823. The use of technology along with efficient staff members has 32 Int.J.Curr.Res.Aca.Rev.2017; 5(12): 25-33 This study analysed the growth of the banking sector in India, products and services offered by the public sector and private sector banks to their customers, the degree of preferences for the same, the level of satisfaction derived by them and the reasons that influence their level of satisfaction. References Aggarwal, Monika and Rishi Raj Sharma, 2005. “Indian Banking: Present & Future”, the Indian Journal of Commerce, Vol. 58, No. 03, July-Sept. 2005, pp. 26-37. Agrawal, Anand and Krishn Goyal 2009. “Emerging Trends in Banking, Finance & Insurance Industry”, Atlantic Publishers, New Delhi, pp. 10-16. Athukorala and Jayasuriya (1994) (1), “Macroeconomic Policies, Crisis and Growth in Sri Lanka, 19691990”, World Bank Comparative Macroeconomic Studies, pp. 119-128. Aurora S. and Malhotra M., 2005. “Customer Satisfaction: A Comparative Analysis of Public and Private Sector Banks”; Decision 24(1-4), JanuaryDecember, IIM Calcutta, pp. 109-130. Boyd, W.L., Leonard, M. and White, C. 1994. “Customer Preferences for Financial Services: An Analysis”, International Journal of Bank Marketing 12(1), Emerald, 9-15. Chaudhary, Kajal and Sharma, Monika, 2011. Performance of Indian Public Sector Banks and Private Sector Banks: A Comparative Study, International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, Vol. 2, No. 3, June, pp. 249-256. Desai, Vasant, 2005. “Indian Financial System”, Himalaya Publishing House, pp. 481-489. Jain (2011) (4),. Jain, R., 2011. “A Study on the Investment Preferences among the Households in Gujarat”, ICFAI Journal of Finance, April, pp. 2326. Jain, Vibha, 2007. “Evolution of Commercial Banks”, Regal Publication, New Delhi, pp. 78-79. Jha et al., (2009((3),. Jha, S., E. Prasad and A. TeradaHagiwra, 2009. “Saving in Asia and issues for rebalancing growth”, ADB Economics Working Paper Series, No. 161, May, pp. 78-83. King and Levine (1994) (2), “Finance Entrepreneurship and Growth”, Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 32, pp. 69-74. Raut, Kishore C. and Santosh K. Das 1996. “Commercial Banks in India – Profitability, Growth & Development”, Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi, pp. 30-35. While it is true that the public sector banks play a far more important role in mobilising deposits from the public and lending to the most important sectors like agriculture, small traders, businessmen, emerging areas like green energy, etc., they also suffer from the political intervention in the form of shortage of manpower and growing NPAs. Hence, they are not able to compete with the private sector with all their vigour and vitality; it seems they are competing with one hand tied. However, the public sector banks are still able to post sizeable growth in terms of deposits, investments, advances, interest income and also net profit, though the rate of growth is quite less. It is also noted from the analysis that the political burden and lack of adequate middle level and top level officials in the public sector banks hamper their way of functioning and they are not able to have sufficient capital in order to have the level of technology they would like to have otherwise. Hence, this study shows that respondents prefer the new products and services offered by the private sector banks, which are mostly technology oriented and also the kind of security they provide for online transaction. While it is true that the rate of interest and the bank charges by the private sector banks are higher compared to that of the public sector banks, the former also lack similar reliability that enjoyed by the latter. The private sector banks willingly enter new areas, markets and also bring in more customers and play quite aggressively, which has resulted in their higher growth rate of deposits, interest income and also profit. Hence, the private sector banks need to get the confidence of the customers in terms of their dependability and reliability, while the public sector banks have to put in advanced technology regime, which requires sufficient political support that will result in a level playing field between the two sectors. How to cite this article: Nirmal Kumar K. S. 2017. Customer Preferences for Banking Products between Private and Public Sector Banks in Chennai City. Int.J.Curr.Res.Aca.Rev. 5(12), 25-33. doi: https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcrar.2017.512.004 33