Winning by Banking on Technology and Innovations:A Study of Select Indian Banks

Abstract

Advances in information and communication technologies have transformed the way banks do their businesses. All the banks in India are now reaping the benefits of Core Banking Solutions (CBS), thereby providing their valued customers anywhere banking, National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), Real-Time Gross-Settlement (RTGS), Phone Banking, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, Cheque Truncation System (CTS) etc. Technology-enabled disruptive business models, progressive regulatory environment and changing customer needs are forcing the banks to be innovative. This study tries to find out the various innovative banking products/services recently introduced by select banks in India. This study also examines how banks can win in offering innovative products/services in the future by leveraging various technologies. In this study, for secondary data, we have referred various Reports/Research Papers/Web sites of Reserve Bank of India, Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), various banks etc. The paper reveals that apart from having a large branch network, ATMs, POS Terminals, micro-ATMs and Business Correspondents, banks in India have recently introduced various innovative products/services like TV Banking, Facebook Banking and Self-Banking, Tab Banking and Video Banking, etc. The leaders in banking on technology and innovations are SBI among the public sector banks and ICICI Bank among the private sector banks. India's Unique ID card (Aadhaar Card) based biometric authentication can be a real game changer for the banking sector in the future. Banks having a solid technology platform coupled with innovations can go a long way in winning in the future.