Volume : 2 | Issue : 2 | february 2013

ISSN - 2250-1991

Research Paper

Commerce

Consumer Awareness in Rural India with

special reference to E-Banking services of
State Bank of India
* Dr. Chilumuri Srinivasa Rao
t

* Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Commerce, Govt. Degree College (W), Srikalahasti, Andhra Pradesh, India.

ABSTRACT

Consumer awareness is about making the consumer aware of his/her rights. In terms of economic output, rural India accounts for
almost half (48%) of the countrys economy, and the rural markets have the potential to reach $500 billion by 2020.

E-banking was gradually replacing the traditional branch banking system. Customer awareness is necessary to identify the
key success factors to survive in intense competition and increase the market share.
The objective of the research paper is to assess the customer awareness about different services provided by the SBI particularly in rural India.
This research paper is based on seco
State Bank Of India, Reserve Bank of India and from different oral primary sources.
The consumers in the rural areas lack awareness about various schemes and e-banking services of SBI. The SBI should
launch campaign to educate and create awareness to consumers.

Keywords: Consumer awareness, Rural Banking, SBI, E-Banking Services.

I INTRODUCTION
literacy level; consumer awareness c
Consumer awareness is about making the consumer aware
of his/her rights. It is a marketing term which means that conII RURAL BANKING
sumers are aware of products or services, its characteristics.
The role of banks, which is central
Though the first consumer movementareas,begwasn fastinEnglchangingdafter.The emerge
the second world war, a modernallowsdeclarationaccess abouttobankingcosumserviceswi
ers rights was first made in coursetheto theUnitedbankpremiseStatesbythecustomerof.Atpresent,AmericaATMs in
1962.
are city oriented in our country. It
be widely used, in semi-urban and ru
India
lives
in
numerous
villages,popularityscatteredofcreditthroughoutcards
twheich
wer
country. Rural
areas
are
form
easto.nearlyAsthe70levelpercentof educationofIndiasin ru population and have historicallywillaccounstartedseekingformoreefficient,thanhalfquicke
of Indian consumption. Even with increasing urbanization and
migration, it is estimated - thatThe63growthpercentof theof Indiruralsbankingpopula ind tion will continue to live in clruralsion
areasbyprovidingby2025.financialInterms produof economic output, rural India accountsinthefarthestreachesforofthe 48countrypercent.InIndia,even
nowofthe the countrys economy and the ruralruralmarketsareashavelacktheof potaccentialssto basic to reach $500 billion by 2020. Thus rural areas
will continue to remain vitally important to theE-bankiIndiang economywhichis. gradually replaci
banking system. Satisfied customers The rural population in India
perfocomprmanceises theand corefinancialofIndianreturns. society and represents the realnecessaryIndiatoidentify.
theAccordingkeysuccessfactorstosurvivethein in-2011 census, there are 6,40,867 villagestensecompetitioninand Indiaincreasethe marketand
shareabout.Today, the83.3 crores of Indian population livesconcept ofincore bankingthesehas madevillagesAnywhereandamonganytime 121 crores
of total population. banking a reality. Along with techn
have also evolved and the delivery In India a substantial number
ofuctstheareruralcarriedpeopleoutarethroughlivingthbelowmed
the poverty line, having high alevelfractionof theofcost tounemploymentthecustomer.
and poor
Name of the
Scheduled Comme
Public Sector B
Nationalised Ba
State Bank Grou
State Bank of I
Private Sector
Old Private Sec
New Private Sec

Rura
23,
22,
15,
6,5
5,2
1,5
88
70

Table: 1 Branches and ATMs of Scheduled Comme

Branches
ATMs
Semi-urban Urban
MetroTot On-site
Off-site
Tot
22,
17,
17,
81,
47,
48, 95,
17,
14,
13,
67,
34,
24, 58,
12,
10,
10,
48,
18,
12, 31,
5,6
3,5
3,1
18,
15,
11, 27,
3,9
2,442
2,214
13,
12,
9,943 22,141
4,6
3,5
3,6
13,
13,249
22, 36,
2,0
1,3
1,0
5,3
3,342
2,429
5,7
2,662
2,1
2,5
8,0
9,9
20, 30,

Foreign Banks

Source : RBI reports 2011-2012

46 X PARIPEX - INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH

61

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322

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Volume : 2 | Issue : 2 | february 2013

ISSN - 2250-1991

Table: 1 explains the coverageIn ofthescheduledfirstpart,commercialtheconsumer awa banks services with their branchesing, SBIand
andATMSElectronicbased rural,Banking serv semi-urban, urban and metropolitanandinareathe basissecond. Dupart,ing the custome year 2012
march the total scheduledservicescommwerecialdiscussedbranchesfinally conc India are 81,240 and ATMs are conclusions95,686providing.
different ser-vices to the nation. Particularly 23,776 branches in rural and 22,468 branches in semi-urban Thisareasresearch
providingpaperisbasedonsecondarytheirdata serviceswhichisto

to rural people.

be collected from the official websi

Reserve Bank of India and from diffe

The state Bank of India have 5,250 branches in rural and 3,956 branches in semi-urban areasIVSTATE BANKprovidingOFINDIA lot of
services
to the rural India and also theStateSBI subsidiaryBankofIndiabanksis havethe countrys1332 branches in rural area and havein 1663terms inof
semiprofits,urbanassets,area-. deposi 64.79 percent of total SBI groupees.brancWithesoverare200providingyearsoftheirexistenc services in rural
and
semi-urbanpresareance.Ininrural33countriesareas7
forandexte
eign
bank
branches,
1581
privathanesectors18,830
bankbranchesbranches&27,143and plus A 22,188 public sector bank branchesIndianareBankoperatingtofeatureservicesntheto Fortu
the customers.

sociate Banks and 7 Subsidiaries arg

world. With millions of customers ac
There are
only 54 savings accountsferscompleteforeverangey100 ofpersonsbanking prod
in rural areas and only 26% ofcuttingrural citizensedgetechnologywithanandannualinnovati income of less than Rs. 50,000 have a bank account. In
the
same
income level only
13% farmersSBI acchavesseverto eaverailed100 ofmillion ac
bank
loans while 54% have usedtry providesnon-institutionalvibrantbaseforinsurancepenetrationand otheracross
forms
of lending. Thus,
there everyisregionsufficientandeconomicstrata inneedthecounty,forthusensuringexten
ing financial services to the
trueruralfinanciareasandl ineedclusionofcustomer.
awareness about banking services.
Table 2 demonstrates that during 20
associates group are operating 19,
III OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY
The objective of the research paper is to assess the customer
2,80,256 total employees. The total
awareness
about
different
servicesgroup
providedwas14,05,024bythecroresSBI
induring
2
rural
areas.
For
the
evaluation21.purpose77percentthisshareresearchinthepapertotal de divided into two parts.

aggregate. The advances given by these groups are 11,51,991 crore cent of the total advances given by the total banking industry. Th

22.70

% in the total market and should concentrate to improve the

Table : 2 Performance of SBI and its Associates (Amount in million)

Items

No. of offices

2007-2008-2009-102010-112011 Aggregate

10,68312,03413,09414,04614,316

No. of employees 1,79,2052,05,8962,00,2992,22,933

Gro

All B
Aggregate
2011-122011
19,485 83,229

2,15,4812,80,25610,13,390

Capital and Reserves4,90,3275,79,4776,59,4926,49,8608,39,5&Surplus10,72,49460,85,315

Investments

18,95,01327,59,54029,57,85229,56,00631,21,97641,73,2212,23,05,472

Deposits

53,74,03974,20,73180,41,16293,39,328104,36,4741,40,50,2416,45,36,642

Advances

41,67,68254,25,03263,19,142 75,67,19486,75,789115,19,9135,07,45,793

Interest income
Other income
Interest
Operating

4,89,5036,37,8847,09,9398,13,94410,65,21514,34,87865,50,565
86,9491,26,9081,49,6821,58,2461,43,5141,78,9048,57,402
expended3,19,291 4,29,1534,73,2254,88,6806,32,3048,88,51243,05,185
expenses1,26,0861,56,4872,03,1872,30,1542,60,6903,27,39613,71,033

V ELECTRONIC BANKING SERVICES OF SBI the virtual bank.

Internet banking systems means that clients can now do
banking at the leisure of theirStatehomesBank.Alsoof Indiaknown offersasonlineawide r
banking, the system allows - bothandtransactionalservicesto andcorporatenon-transand retai actional features. Online bankingcom isallowsthe
Internetcustomersbankingtoconportal- f duct financial transactions onportalsecureprovideswebsiteanywhere,opatedanytime,by o

PARIPEX - INDIAN JOURNAL OF

RESEARCH X 47

Volume : 2 | Issue : 2 | february 2013

ISSN - 2250-1991

for State Banks retail and corporateintheruralcustomersareas.. Particularly mo know the ranges of products and services offered by the

banks and they do not benefit out of

The major weaknesses of SBI was lack net banking among the customers, ob
related to security, complicated pro net banking facilities in the rural.

The SBI Employees are not appropria banking services of SBI such as (52% fill,
(40%) Ticket Booking, (28%) Re etc.

VII FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

The study found that the consumers awareness about the
services provided by the SBI is less internet banking services the awaren ral
area. It is suggested that The S to educate and create awareness to consumers.
Instead of

merely displaying the information i posters and banners, media could us purpose
in local language.

The some of the most important services are, E-Ticketing

is useful to book railway, airItandis bsuggestedticketsthatonlineThe SBIthroughhas to online SBI; SBI E-Tax is enablesures totopayincreaseTDS,
Incometheawarenesstax, lev Indirect tax, corporation tax,programmeswealthtax,inestatetheruralduty areasand-fringeandt benefits tax; Bill Payment
is tratesimplemoreandon convenientPromotionalservicemeasures t for viewing and paying bills online;services,RTGS/NEFTadvertisementusefuland
tomerchan transfer money from State Banktheaccountsourcesofinformationto andaccountsawarenessprovidersin forotherbank
banks; E-Payment provide to paycustomersinsurance. premium, mobile phone bills and also can purchase mutual fund units; Funds Transfer
facility enables to transferItissuggestedthat fundsforcreating customerwithinawarenessaccountsregard- in
the same branch or other branches;ingallThirdservicesParty theTransferSBI shouldis di useful to transfer funds to thirdfarmers,partiessmallby
addbusinessmen,gthasSelfthird-hel party accounts. The Internet- Bankingothersmallapplicationtownpopulationcangenerin the

ate an online, downloadable accountdoubts statemeincludintg createforanyawarenessac.

counts for any date range and for any account mapped to
username. Online SBI enables
toAs viewpart Dematofcreateaccountawarenessstate- SBI shou
ment and maintain such accounts etc.
out their female customers who are
would have less experience - and will
For State Bank of India, the numbering.
of transactions using internet banking has gone up by 180.04% while the amount
has shot up by 105.50% in a
timeIt isframesuggestedofJanuarythat 2010the SBIto is requ
August 2011. However, from Januarytraining2011programstoAugustfor2011,their employee
the number of internet banking transactions has increased
to promote Online Banking Services&
by 43.42% and the amount transactedestotheircustomerswitnessed.
a 24.31%
increase. The average amount per transaction stood at Rs
703.21.
SBI should can introduce expert mod
troubles of employees while providin
banking services as well as to redu
VI CUSTOMER AWARENESS ABOUT SERVICES OF SBI
It is felt that offering good whilebankingavailingfacilitiesonline bankingtheruralservicare is a vital for success of any banks especially SBI. The SBI
providing a lot of services
toTherecustomersisa needintheto ruralprioritiseareas theat p
the same time the level of awarenessersby strengtheningofcustomersthe isenforcementnot
up to the mark.
introduce transparent fee structure on the use of e-banking
services in order to maximize access It is found that SBI customers-vicesareand
to havingreducedthedoubtslowof thelevelcustomers. of aware
ness towards the E-banking services provided by the bank

REFERENCES

1. Annual Report of State Bank of India 2011-2012 | 2. Dr. Meghashree Agarwal Dadhich awareness about obs | 3. Prof. Suresh Misra & Ms. Sapna Chadah : Consumer Awareness i Banking,
Nagarjuna Hills Publication, 2006. | 5. Krishna Lal Pandey, Development of Customer Acceptance of Online Banking in Developing Economies. Journal of Internet Ba

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