Bank as a neighbour

A survey by market research firm IIMS Dataworks shows that Indian consumers rarely distinguish between banks in their decisions to opt for the one over the other. They go for the bank that comes their way, for one reason or the other. "Only very high income groups make a choice to go to a particular bank, others just walk into the nearest bank branch,” says K C Chakrabarty, chairman and managing director, Punjab National Bank (PNB). About 60 per cent of the working population still do not have bank accounts, he added. While State Bank of India (SBI) dominates the mind space almost as a singular monolith, PNB’s brand recall seems to be in line with its status as the second largest public sector bank in the country. Among the relatively low income segments, the only private bank that has any significant brand recall is ICICI Bank