INDEX CONTENT INTRODUCTION LITRATURE REVIEW RATIONAL OF THE STUDY OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY METHODOLOGY REFERENCES PAGE NO.

2-6 7 8 9 10 11

INTRODUCTION
MEASURING CUSTOMER PERCEPTION IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY Banking operations are becoming increasingly customer dictated. The demand for 'banking super malls' offering one-stop integrated financial services is well on the rise. The ability of banks to offer clients access to several markets for different classes of financial instruments has become a valuable competitive edge. Convergence in the industry to cater to the changing demographic expectations is now more than evident. Bancassurance and other forms of cross selling and strategic alliances will soon alter the business dynamics of banks and fuel the process of consolidation for increased scope of business and revenue. The thrust on farm sector, health sector and services offers several investment linkages. In short, the domestic economy is an increasing pie which offers extensive economies of scale that only large banks will be in a position to tap. With the phenomenal increase in the country's population and the increased demand for banking services; speed, service quality and customer satisfaction are going to be key differentiators for each bank's future success. Thus it is imperative for banks to get useful feedback on their actual response time and customer service quality aspects of retail banking, which in turn will help them take positive steps to maintain a competitive edge. The working of the customer's mind is a mystery which is difficult to solve and understanding the nuances of what perception the customer has to attain satisfaction is, a challenging task. This exercise in the context of the banking industry will give us an insight into the parameters of customer satisfaction and their measurement. This vital information will help us to build satisfaction amongst the customers and customer loyalty in the long run which is an integral part of any business. The customer's requirements must be translated and quantified into measurable targets. This provides an easy way to monitor improvements, and deciding upon the attributes that need to be concentrated on in order to improve customer satisfaction. We can recognize where we need to make changes to create improvements and determine if these changes, after implemented, have led to increased customer satisfaction. THE NEED TO MEASURE CUSTOMER PERCEPTION: Satisfied customers are central to optimal performance and financial returns. In many places in the world, business organizations have been elevating the role of the customer to that of a key stakeholder over the past twenty years. Customers are viewed as a group whose satisfaction with the enterprise must be incorporated in strategic planning efforts. Forward-looking companies are finding value in directly measuring and tracking customer satisfaction as an important strategic success indicator. Evidence is mounting that placing a high priority on customer satisfaction is critical to improved organizational performance in a global marketplace. With better understanding of customers' perceptions, companies can determine the actions required to meet the customers' needs. They can identify their own strengths and weaknesses, 2

where they stand in comparison to their competitors, chart out path future progress and improvement. Customer satisfaction measurement helps to promote an increased focus on customer outcomes and stimulate improvements in the work practices and processes used within the company. When buyers are powerful, the health and strength of the company's relationship with its customers its most critical economic asset is its best predictor of the future. Assets on the balance sheet basically assets of production are good predictors only when buyers are weak. So it is no wonder that the relationship between those assets and future income is becoming more and more tenuous. As buyers become empowered, sellers have no choice but to adapt. Focusing on competition has its place, but with buyer power on the rise, it is more important to pay attention to the customer. Customer satisfaction is quite a complex issue and there is a lot of debate and confusion about what exactly is required and how to go about it. This article is an attempt to review the necessary requirements, and discuss the steps that need to be taken in order to measure and track customer satisfaction.

CUSTOMER PERCEPTION Customer perception is an important component of our relationship with our customers. Customer satisfaction is a mental state which results from the customers comparison of expectations prior to a purchase with performance perceptions after a purchase. A customer may make such comparisons for each part of an offer called domain-specific satisfaction or for the offer in total called global satisfaction. Moreover, this mental state, which we view as a cognitive judgment, is conceived of as falling somewhere on a bipolar continuum bounded at the lower end by a low level of satisfaction where expectations exceed performance perceptions and at the higher end by a high level of satisfaction where performance perceptions exceed expectations. CUSTOMER PERCEPTION ON SERVICE These characteristics of service also make service unique and different from goods as described below 1. Intangibility. Unlike manufactured goods that are tangible, a service is intangible. The products from service are purely a performance. The consumer cannot see, taste, smell, hear, feel or touch the product before it purchased

2. Heterogeneity. A service is difficult to produce consistently and exactly over time. Service performance varies from producer to prod and from time to time. This characteristic of service makes it difficult to standardize the quality of the service 3. Inseparability. In service industries, usually the producer performs the service at the time the consumption of the service takes place. Therefore, it is difficult for the producer to hide mistakes or quality shortfalls of the service. In comparison the goods producers, have a buffer between production and customers consumption 4. Perish ability. Unlike manufactured goods, services cannot be stored for later consumption. This makes it impossible to have a quality check before the producers send it to the customers. The service providers then only have one path, to provide service right the first time and every time. 5. Non-returnable. A service is not returnable, unlike products. On the other hand, in many services, customers may be fully refunded if the service is not satisfactory. 6. Needs-match uncertainty. Service attributes are more uncertain than the product. This yield to higher variance of making a match between perceived needs and service is greater than perceived need and product match. 7. Interpersonal. Service tends to be more interpersonal than products. For example, compare buying a vacuum cleaner to contracting for the cleaning of a carpet. While customers will judge the quality of the vacuum cleaner by how clean the carpet is, customers will tend to judge the quality of the carpet cleaning service on both the appearance of the carpet and the attitude of the technician. 8. Personal. Customers often view services to be more personal than products. For example, a customer may perceive the service of her car (balancing the tires) as more personal than purchasing new tires. If the same customer has problems later with the tires, the defect in the tires would be less personal than if the tires were never balanced. 9. Psychic. Even though the food at a restaurant might not be as delicious as other famous restaurants. The customers will recognize the restaurant and tend to be satisfactions if the service of the restaurant is excellent. Another example is when a flight is delayed, and people tend to be upset with this poor service. However, if the gate agent is very helpful and friendly, people tend to still be pleased with the service (Groth, & Dye, 1999).user, from customer to customer,

Like other industries, banking and financial services companies have reached the conclusion that the relationship with the customer should not (metaphorically and literally) end at the bank door. Customer access after the transaction adds value to the transaction.

BANKING Banking means accepting for the purpose of lending or investment, of deposits of money from the Public, repayable on demand or otherwise and withdraw able by cheques, draft, order or otherwise. ICICI BANK ICICI Bank is India's second-largest bank with total assets of Rs. 3,634.00 billion (US$ 81 billion) at March 31, 2010 and profit after tax Rs. 40.25 billion (US$ 896 million) for the year ended March 31, 2010. The Bank has a network of 2,529 branches and 6,000 ATMs in India, and has a presence in 19 countries, including India. ICICI Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialised subsidiaries in the areas of investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. The Bank currently has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Russia and Canada, branches in United States, Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Qatar and Dubai International Finance Centre and representative offices in United Arab Emirates, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Our UK subsidiary has established branches in Belgium and Germany. ICICI Bank's equity shares are listed in India on Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited and its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). HDFC BANK

The Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) was amongst the first to receive an 'in principle' approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a bank in the private sector, as part of the RBI's liberalization of the Indian Banking Industry in 1994. The bank was incorporated in August 1994 in the name of 'HDFC Bank Limited', with its registered office in Mumbai, India. HDFC Bank commenced operations as a Scheduled Commercial Bank in January 1995 5

Gap Analysis In business and economics, gap analysis is a tool that helps a company to compare its actual performance with its potential performance. At its core are two questions: "Where are we?" and "Where do we want to be?" If a company or organization is not making the best use of its current resources or is forgoing investment in capital or technology, then it may be producing or performing at a level below its potential. This concept is similar to the base case of being below one's production possibilities frontier. The goal of gap analysis is to identify the gap between the optimized allocation and integration of the inputs (resources) and the current level of allocation. This helps provide the company with insight into areas which could be improved. The gap analysis process involves determining, documenting and approving the variance between business requirements and current capabilities. Gap analysis naturally flows from benchmarking and other assessments. Once the general expectation of performance in the industry is understood, it is possible to compare that expectation with the company's current level of performance. This comparison becomes the gap analysis. Such analysis can be performed at the strategic or operational level of an organization. Gap analysis is a formal study of what a business is doing currently and where it wants to go in the future. It can be conducted, in different perspectives, as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. Organization (e.g., human resources) Business direction Business processes Information technology

Gap analysis provides a foundation for measuring investment of time, money and human resources required to achieve a particular outcome (e.g. to turn the salary payment process from paper-based to paperless with the use of a system). Note that 'GAP analysis' has also been used as a means for classification of how well a product or solution meets a targeted need or set of requirements. In this case, 'GAP' can be used as a ranking of 'Good', 'Average' or 'Poor'. This terminology does appear in the PRINCE2 project management publication from the OGC (Office of Government Commerce).

LITRATURE REVIEW
Solomon (1999), Dubois (2000) define perception as a separate variable of consumer behavior having features of the process and including separate phases of the process. Walters and Bergiel (1989) characterize perception as a solid process during which an individual acquires knowledge about the environment and interprets the information according to his/her needs requirements and attitudes. Dubois (2000) present perception as a more complicated process, during which sensory receptors of a consumer capture a message sent by external signals and the information received is interpreted, organized and saved, providing a meaning for it and using it in a decision making process.

RATIONAL OF THE STUDY

The banks delivering high quality service to clients is just as important as delivering performance that meets or exceeds their expectations. It is in this context that a research is necessary to know about awareness levels on the services provided by the public and private sector banks . Banking industry in India has undergone a process of evolution with the package of time. To count or to depend on a bank merely by the function it is supposed to perform would be insufficient in the world that we live today. Investments play a vital role on the part of the customers. A real investor does not simply throw his or her money random investment; he or she performs through analysis and commits capital only when there is a reasonable expectation of profit. Hence they both are interdependent i.e., it all depends upon the customer. Customer knows what to expect. Today banks have a relationship management approach with their clients. Banks are offering more customized solutions to their clients. The need of the hour is not only to introduce more value added products for which the customers are willing to pay here but also to innovate & enter new segments like small business & periodical finance. Everything revolves around the customer and banks via with their innovative and quality products to suit their clients. Today the bottom line for any customer is convenience understanding and evaluating the customers perception on the service & products of a bank has without doubt become a need, which propels the body to structure itself for better performance and service. Thus delivering high quality service to clients is just as important as delivering performance that meets or exceeds their expectations. It is in this context that a research is necessary to know about awareness levels on the services provided by the public and private sector banks namely, Public Sector Banks : State Bank of India, Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank and Private Sector Banks : ICICI, HDFC and IndusInd Bank and the customer perception towards the banks.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study are: PRIMERY OBJECTIVES  To analyze the various factors which influence the customer perception in icici bank and hdfc bank  To compare and analyze the customer perception in icici bank and hdfc bank SECONDREY OBJECTIVES  To study the services provided by icici bank and hdfc bank and the effectiveness of it.  To ascertain suggestions from the investors for further improvement of the institutions.

METHODOLOGY
THE STUDY  Descriptive Research DATA COLLECTION  Primary Data: The primary data will collected from structured close ended questionnaire and face to face interview.  Secondary Data: The secondary data will collected from Published materials by various authors Such as periodicals, Journals, news papers, and websites. SAMPLING METHOD  (SRS) Simple Random survey of customers

SAMPLE SIZE:  The sample size will be 100 SAMPLING UNIT:  The sampling units are Customers and Executive DATA ANALYSIS:  For the analysis of data the Gap Analysis and appropriate statistical tool will be used.

10

REFERENCES

 B.V.R.Naidu, Buyers Perception towards Prawn Feed A study in West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol: XXXVII  C.Ashokan, Hariharan.G, Profile and Perception of Retail Consumers An Empirical study in Palakkad District, Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol: XXXVIII  M.Bhaskar Roa, Tourists Perceptions Towards Package Tours, Indian Journal of Marketing,  N.Panchanathan, S.Senthilkumar, Dr.R.Mathivannan, K.S.Selvavinayagam, A study on Consumer Preference and Satisfaction in Uzhavar Sandai at Namakkal District, Indian Journal of Marketing,  R.Ganapathi and Dr.T.Ramasamy, A study on Consumers Expectation Towards Share Brokers, Indian Journal of Marketing,  Shrimant F.Tangade, Dr.Basavarj C.S, Perceptions about Consumers Protection Laws and the Consumer Forum An Empirical study of Complainant Consumers of Aulbarga District, Indian Journal of Marketing,

11