"Service Quality Gap Model in Credit Cards (A study of selected banks in Ludhiana) A Project Report Submitted to

SMU
Sikkim Manipal University
Directorate of Distance Education

For the final research project

Submitted By: Sonia Dutt Deptt. Of Business Management SMU Distance Education, Chandigarh

Under the guidance of: Mrs Vashundra SMU Distance Education,Chandigarh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT No serious and lasting achievement or success one ever achieves without the friendly guidance and cooperation of so many people involved in work. Foremost of all, I express my gratitude to the Almighty for his blessings and for vesting wisdom in all my wishes. A feeling of elation insists me on expressing my heartiest gratitude to Prof. Vashundra who allowed doing my final project under his supervision. I wish to take this privilege to express my profound sense of respect to my esteemed major advisor Prof. Vashundra for his enlightened, inspiring guidance, keen supervision, persistent encouragement, invaluable suggestions and constructive criticism during the completion of the project. Words are not sufficient to register my sincere regards to my loving parents for their deep affection and unabated inspiration that really kept me going. They were and unending source of strength and perseverance during the course of the study. I place my thanks to all those who spared their time and made it convenient for me to complete the research. I deeply acknowledge their concern for my research. Last but not the least, I also wish to record my gratitude for any person(s), my memory has failed to recall, who rendered his/her/their support and services.

Sonia Dutt MBA

CERTIFICATE I This is to certify that the project entitled "Service Quality Gap Model in Credit Cards: (A study of selected banks in Ludhiana " submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Business Administration a bonafide research work carried out by Sonia Dutt (MBA Finance, Roll No. 520943975) under my supervision. And no part of this project report has been submitted for any other degree. The assistance and help received during the course of the project has been fully acknowledged.

Mrs. Vashundra

CERTIFICATE II

This is to certify that the project entitled Service Quality Gap Model in Credit Cards: (A study of selected banks in Ludhiana " submitted by Sonia Dutt (MBA, Finance Roll No.520943975) to Sikkim Manipal University, Chandigarh in partial fulfillment of degree of Master of Business Administration, in subject of marketing, has been approved by student advisory committee after an oral examination in the same, in collaboration with an external examiner.

Mrs. Vashundra

External Examiner

Title of the project Name of the student University Roll No Name of the institution Major Subject Name of Major Advisor Degree to be awarded Year of award of degree Name of university Total pages of the Report

Service Quality Gap Model in Credit Cards : (A study of selected banks in Ludhiana) Sonia Dutt 520943975 Artex Informatics Finance Mrs. Vashundra Master of Business Administration 2009-2011 Sikkim Manipal University,Chandigarh 101

TABLE OF CONTENTS

UNIT-1

INTRODUCTION OF CREDIT CARDS What is credit? The word credit basically means giving someone time to pay. Whenever you sell something to another person and they promise to pay you back later, you are giving them credit. In effect, you are loaning a sum of money, which will be repaid to you some time in the future. The word credit actually comes from Latin, the old Roman language. The Roman word credere meant trust. In other words, when you sell something to another person but give them time to pay, you trust them to pay you back. In many cases, the person loaning the money or giving credit will make a small charge - usually a percentage of the total - each month or each year until the money is repaid. This fee is called interest. Access to consumer credit in the form of a credit card has grown rapidly to become one of the most frequently held financial instruments by households. Credit cards offer the convenience of cashless transactions and also allow for purchases over the telephone and increasingly, via the internet. Credit card also offers consumers the flexibility of deferring payment to a future date, and
thus can allow consumers to smooth spending over temporary liquidity shortfalls. However invoking a credit cards revolving credit option typically results in paying high rates of interest not only on the existing balance but also on any new charges made on the card as well, and thus is a fairly costly form of credit, especially if the revolving credit feature is used frequently.

How did people use credit? Until the end of the 19th century, only wealthy people had easy access to credit. Most people had to pay for things in cash. If they did need to borrow money, people had to turn to moneylenders and pawnbrokers. But this was often an unreliable form of credit, with high interest rates and often difficult arrangements for repayment. Other forms of credit were available to ordinary people but there was nothing like the network of banks and credit facilities, which we have today. In local shops, it was possible for people to buy things on the slate or tab and pay for them on a monthly basis. Higher levels of both education and income contribute significantly and importantly to the probability of ownership of either type of credit card, even controlling for other household characteristics. The difference between the coefficients on having a high school degree but no further education and having a college degree or higher3 implies an effect about as large as the difference between an income between $10,000 and $24,999 (in 2001 $) and an income of at least $50,000; both these effects are about twice those of the difference in age from less than 35 to aged 50-65. As would be expected, a higher level of financial wealth also contributes positively to card ownership, although the relative contribution of this variable is less notable than that of increased income or education. What it is credit card? Credit Cards introduce financial flexibility into modern consumers' lives. For those who always pay off their balances, credit cards eliminate the need to carry cash or obtain checkcashing approval. For those who carry a balance, credit cards allow acquisition of goods and services that cannot be paid for in full when purchased A plastic card having a magnetic strip, issued by a bank or business authorizing the holder to buy goods or services on credit A credit card allows consumers to purchase products or services without cash and to pay for them at a later date. To qualify for this type of credit, the consumer must open an account with a bank or company, which sponsors a card. They then receive a line of credit with a

specified dollar amount. They can use the card to make purchases from participating merchants until they reach this credit limit. Every month the sponsor provides a bill, which tallies the card activity during the previous 30 days. Depending on the terms of the card, the customer may pay interest charges on the amount that they do not pay for on a monthly basis. Also, credit cards may be sponsored by large retailers (such as major clothing or department stores) or by banks or corporations (like VISA or American Express).

History of credit cards Many of us use credit cards, but only a few know its history and its existence. An informative piece on how and when people started the use of credit cards. In 1950s more flexible, form of credit was available. Credit cards had emerged in America in the 1950s, developed by organizations like Diners Club and American Express. For the first time, credit cards offered people a form of 'unsecured' credit that was widely available and easy to use. Credits cards are a relatively recent development. The VISA Company, for example, traces its history back to 1958 when the Bank of America began its BankAmerica program. In the mid1960s, the Bank of America began to license banks in the United States the rights to issue its special BankAmerica. In 1977 the name Visa was adopted internationally to cover all these cards. VISA became the first credit card to be recognized worldwide. The Consumer Credit Act of 1974 superseded all previous credit legislation and still governs the granting of consumer credit today. In 1983, 65 percent of U.S. households had a credit card of some kind, including store-specific cards and gas cards. Only 43 percent of households had a bank-type credit card such as a Visa or Mastercard; that is, a card that is accepted at a broad range of retail establishments, and after making a minimum required payment allows the consumer to revolve the balance if so desired. By 1992, 62 percent of the U.S. population had a bank-type credit card, and by 2001 that percentage had risen to almost 73. Over the same period, the percentage of households with any type of credit card increased much less, and in 2001 that percentage was 76 percent, only slightly higher than the percentage with a bank-type card. There has also been an increase in the number of bank-type credit cards owned per household: in 1983, households with a bank-type card

typically held only one such type card. By 2001, one-third of card-holding households still had only one bank-type card, one-third had two, and about one-fourth had three or four. A little more than 7 percent had five or more. Credit Cards: Credit cards in India are gaining ground. A number of banks in India are encouraging people to use credit card. Diners Club and American Express used the concept of credit card in 1950 with the launch of charge cards in USA. Credit card however became more popular with use of magnetic strip in 1970. Credit card in India became popular with the introduction of foreign banks in the country. Some facts of credit cards The first card was issued in India by Visa in 1981. The countrys first Gold Card was also issued from Visa in 1986. The first international credit card was issued to a restricted number of customers by Andhra Bank in 1987 through the Visa program, after getting special permission from the Reserve Bank of India. The credit cards are shape and size, as specified by the ISO 7810 standard. It is generally of plastic quality. It is also sometimes known as Plastic Money The choice between debit and credit cards Debit cards are a more recent medium than credit cards, but their use is spreading fast, and they are overtaking credit cards as the most prevalent form of electronic payment at the point of sale. Part of the usual motivation for debit cards is that they limit the potential for overspending associated with credit cards. Debit card transactions can either be made online, using a PIN, or off-line using a signature and a process very similar to credit cards. Off-line debit transactions have been aided by the Visa and Mastercard logo, and it is not an exaggeration that debit and credit cards enjoy comparable levels of acceptability today. Use of debit cards is not allowed only for items such as car rentals and some on-line purchases over the internet. Moreover, debit and credit cards now offer essentially identical fraud protection. A major advantage of debit cards is that they do not allow over-borrowing, as funds are

immediately withdrawn from the account linked to the debit card (or withdrawn within three days in the case of offline purchases). Debit cards appear to be a natural way of solving selfcontrol problems of relatively impatient and impulsive shoppers. It seems possible to impose discipline on a shopper by replacing the credit card with a debit card and limiting the funds available in the linked account. Indeed, observed usage of debit cards seems to reinforce this idea. Still, use of debit cards is not a costless way of coping with a self-control problem. Debit card users forego the free-float offered by credit cards, since funds are (almost) immediately withdrawn from the linked account. Interest costs are not limited to those implied by absence of free floating, but also include the cost of keeping available balances in low-interest linked checking accounts, instead of in higher-rate accounts and withdrawing funds only to cover the monthly payment on a credit card. This process can be quite complicated, especially if the debit card holder is not flush with liquid financial resources and tries to avoid overdraft costs and penalties associated with the linked account. Very often, credit card issuers offer additional rewards to credit card users but not to debit card users, such as frequent flier miles and other bonuses. Thus, using debit cards as instruments of self control is costly, although probably less so than revolving credit card debt to reduce the available credit line. The usual motivation for use of credit cards based on self-control considerations. Investigation proves whether choice of debit versus credit cards at the point of sale is in fact consistent with the relative cost of charging an extra Rupee to the credit card relative to paying with the debit card. A key factor determining such relative costs is whether the consumer already revolves credit card debt, in which case new purchases cannot benefit from the grace period and are thus subject to high interest rates. Zinman formulates three testable hypotheses generated by a canonicalmodel of consumer choice without self-control considerations. First, credit card debt revolvers should be more likely to use debit than those who do not, as they cannot take advantage of the grace period for new purchases. Second, revolvers who face binding credit constraints should be more likely to use debit than credit, e.g. because they are likely to be close to full utilization of the credit card line. Third, nonrevolving bank card holders should be less likely to use debit than those without bankcards. The main rationale for this third prediction is increased likelihood that card holders will want to take advantage of the free float. Using data from the 2001 and other

Surveys of Consumer Finances, Zinman finds economically and statistically significant effects on debit use of revolving status and of credit limit constraints in particular, supporting mainly the first two predictions of the canonical model. However, these results and some stylized facts about debit card use may also be consistent with behavioral models. For example, results also seem consistent with the accountant-shopper model described above. Since credit card debt is revolved mainly as an instrument of self-control in that model, debt revolvers are more likely to exhibit self-control problems and to use debit cards as an additional measure to discipline impulsive shoppers. The same holds a fortiori for those with nearly binding credit card limits. To the extent that these arise from a desire to limit the resources available to the shopper, they will also be associated with a greater likelihood of encouraging the shopper to use a debit card for purchases. Zinman illustrates problems of distinguishing between standard and behavioral explanations of debit card use using the Prelec and Loewenstein (1998) model of mental accounting. In that model, the act of paying produces cognitive transactions costs and incentives to decouple payments from consumption. The optimal decoupling strategy tends to favor delayed payment for durables, but prepayment for instantaneous consumption. Credit cards serve as a decoupling device, because they delay payment and they also lump payments together. If there are convexities over losses associated with each distinct payment, both features attenuate payment pain. Debit provides relatively instantaneous payment and thus less decoupling than credit. This additional decoupling motive in credit versus debit card use could rationalize, for example, the finding of Reda (2003) that debit cards tend to be used for smaller transactions involving instantaneous consumption, while credit cards are used for larger transactions of more durable items. While it may be difficult to distinguish between traditional and behavioral models of credit versus debit card use by using solely data on choices at the point of sale, distinctions can be facilitated by reference to portfolios of credit card debt revolvers. Traditional models fail to explain co-existence of high-interest credit card debt with often substantial holdings of lowinterest liquid assets. The existence of such arbitrage opportunities goes against the logic of models that stress rational calculation of interest and other transactions costs: if consumers are so careful about comparing costs of using debit versus credit for each purchase, how do they miss the interest cost of not paying off their outstanding balances? And if debit card use is motivated by nearly bindin credit card limits, how is it optimal to keep enough money in the

low-interest linked account to finance purchases rather than using these funds to make more of the credit line available to the shopper and to take advantage of points, miles and other advantages of credit card purchases? All in all, it seems that the shortcomings of standard models become apparent when these models are confronted with portfolios of credit card revolvers rather than simply with the payment margin between credit and debit cards.

How Credit Cards work A user is issued a credit card after an account has been approved by the credit provider (often a general bank, but sometimes a captive bank created to issue a particular brand of credit card, with which the user will be able to make purchases from merchants accepting that credit card up to a pre-established limit. When a purchase is made, the credit card user agrees to pay the card issuer. The cardholder indicates their consent to pay, by signing a receipt with a record of the card details and indicating the amount to be paid or by entering a PIN. Also, many merchants now accept verbal authorizations via telephone and electronic authorization using the Internet, known as a customer not present (CNP) transaction Other variations of verification systems are used by e-commerce merchants to determine if the user's account is valid and able to accept the charge. These will typically involve the cardholder providing additional information, such as the security code printed on the back of the card, or the address of the cardholder. Each month, the credit card user is sent a statement indicating the purchases undertaken with the card, any outstanding fees, and the total amount owed. After receiving the statement, the cardholder may dispute any charges that he or she thinks are incorrect (Otherwise, the cardholder must pay a defined minimum proportion of the bill by a due date, or may choose to pay a higher amount up to the entire amount owed. The credit provider charges interest on the amount owed (typically at a much higher rate than most other forms of debt). Some financial institutions can arr\ange for automatic payments to be deducted from the user's accounts. Credit card issuers usually waive interest charges if the balance is paid in full each month, but typically will charge full interest on the entire outstanding balance from the date of each purchase if the total balance is not paid.

The credit card may simply serve as a form of revolving credit, or it may become a complicated financial instrument with multiple balance segments each at a different interest rate, possibly with a single umbrella credit limit, or with separate credit limits applicable to the various balance segments. Usually this compartmentalization is the result of special incentive offers from the issuing bank, either to encourage balance transfers from cards of other issuers, or to encourage more spending on the part of the customer Low interest credit cards or even 0% interest credit cards are available. The only downside to consumers is that the period of low interest credit cards is limited to a fixed term, usually between 6 and 12 months after which a higher rate is charged. Grace period A credit card's grace period is the time the customer has to pay the balance, before interest is charged to the balance. Grace periods vary, but usually range from 10 to 55 days depending on the type of credit card and the issuing bank

Standard segregation of credit cards: Standard Card It is the most basic card (sans all frills) offered by issuers. Classic Card Brand name for the standard card issued by VISA.

Gold Card/Executive Card A credit card that offers a higher line of credit than a standard card. Income eligibility is also higher. In addition, issuers provide extra perks or incentives to cardholders. Platinum Card A credit card with a higher limit and additional perks than a gold card. Titanium Card A card with an even higher limit than a platinum card. Secured Card A credit card that a cardholder secures with a savings deposit to ensure payment of the outstanding balance if the cardholder defaults on payments. People new to credit, or people trying to rebuild their poor credit ratings use it. Smart Card Smart cards, sometimes called chip cards, contain a computer chip embedded in the plastic. Where a typical credit cards magnetic stripe can hold only a few dozen characters, smart cards are now available with 16K of memory. When read by special terminals, the cards can perform a number of functions or access data stored in the chip. These cards can be used as cash cards or as credit cards with a preset credit limit, or used as ID cards with stored-in passwords. Charge Card Falls between a debit and credit card. Works like the latter and you dont have to be an accountholder. Just pay up in full when the bill arrives with the mail. No outstanding are allowed, in other words, no revolving credit facility either. American Express and Diners are providers. Rebate Card This is a card that allows the customer to accumulate cash, merchandise or services based on card usage. Co-Branded Card This is a marriage of convenience between two service providers who want a trade-off with the others strengths. Specific facilities are made to members through these tie-ups. So, Times Bank and Citibank have a co-branded card that allows concessional rates for add-on cards or telephone banking. Stanchart and Hindustan Lever Limited have a co-branded card to sell Aviance beauty products. SBI-GE Capital has a co-branded card for retail loans.

Cash Card Cash cards, similar to pre-paid phone cards, contain a set amount of value, which can be read by a special cash card reader. Participating retailers will use the reader to debit the card in increments until the value is gone. The cards are like cash they have no built-in security, so if lost or stolen, they can be used by anyone.

Travel Card These work mostly as debit cards for the limited purpose of travel. Citibank Dollar Card, American Express, Bob card Global and Hong bank Bank Thomas Cook International Card are among the players in this section.
.

Various terms and jargons used by the credit card industry: Credit Card A credit card is a financial instrument, which can be used more than once to borrow money or buy products and services on credit. Banks, retail stores and other businesses generally issue these. Credit limit The maximum amount of charges a cardholder may apply to the account. Annual fee A bank charge for use of a credit card levied each year, which ranges depending upon the type of card one possesses. Banks usually take an initial fixed amount in the first year and then a lower amount as yearly renewal fees. Revolving Line of Credit An agreement to lend a specific amount to a borrower and to allow that amount to be borrowed again once it has been repaid. Most credit cards offer revolving credit. Personal Identification Number (PIN) As a security measure, some cards requires a number to be punched into a keypad before a transaction can be completed. The cardholder can usually change the number. Teaser Rate Often called the introductory rate, it is the below-market interest rate offered to entice customers to switch credit cards. Joint Credit Issued to a couple based on both of their assets, incomes and credit reports. It generally results in a higher credit limit, but makes both parties responsible for repaying the debt.

Who Gets Its and Who Doesnt: The criteria used by banks to issue a credit cards are:

Place of residence: Applicant is given full priority if he lives in a standard (rich) area. But it would suffice if he own his flat and dont pay rent for it. But if he is paying rent he could just change his habitat (as if its so easy to move on these days). However, the longer applicant has stayed in your rented accommodation, the better are your chances. Telephone: It can of great help to you; since it implies that a person can be tracked down to his residence. Profession: Before issuing a credit card the banker also inquire about the profession of applicant. It is must, as they need to know the financial position of the person. Credit limit is fixed in accordance to the income of the person & there is income level below which one cannot apply for credit card. . . Place of work: Card issuers will normally check the reputation of the company Applicant work in, the number of years you have put up there and your designation. Age: Only adults can apply. One has to be above 18 years of age if he wants to have a credit card. If he is young and raring to go at his first job, chances are that banks will tread cautiously. Other than these broad sets of factors, issuers will also like to check the number of dependents of the applicant, whether he/she is servicing a loan and whether the applicant has another credit card. If a person possesses more than one credit card, ones credit history can easily be verified and depending on the record issuers will think of giving you another card or not. It is important to remember that issuers dont look at any of these factors in isolation and the sum total of all is deduced to judge whether the applicant is worthy of a credit card or not.

Advantages Cash is always riskier to carry, besides the limit to the amount you can carry in your wallet. That's where credit cards come handy. Not only can you spend upto your given credit limit without having to worry about carrying cash, nowadays you can also issue cheque against

your card limit and order drafts over the phone. Credit cards entitle you to other benefit like discount at shops, restaurants and airline tickets. Most credit cards also offer personal accident cover, lost baggage cover, etc. You get interest free money for 45 to 50 days. A global card assures you of spending in any currency and settling your dues in your home currency. But for a shop-a-holic, a card could be akin to a drug. The hard fact is that a credit card can only postpone payment, not waive it! The charges for carrying over the outstanding balance amount over and above the free credit period can touch around 36% on an annualized basis. The following are some of the plus features of credit card in India Hotel discounts Travel fare discounts Free global calling card Lost baggage insurance Accident insurance Insurance on goods purchased Waiver of payment in case of accidental death Household insurance

Precautions taken after receiving credit card: To Avoid:

 Bending the Card. Exposure to electronic devices and gadgets. Direct exposure to sunlight. Be cautious about disclosing your account number over the phone unless you know youre dealing with a reputable company. Never put your account number on the outside of an envelope or on a postcard. Draw a line through blank spaces on charge or debit slips above the total so the amount cannot be changed. Dont sign a blank charge or debit slip. Tear up carbons and save your receipts to check against your monthly statements. Cut up old cards cutting through the account number before disposing of them. Open monthly statements promptly and compare them with your receipts. Report mistakes or discrepancies as soon as possible to the special address listed on your statement for inquiries. Under the FCBA (credit cards) and the EFTA (ATM or debit cards), the card issuer must investigate errors reported to them within 60 days of the date your statement was mailed to you. Keep a record in a safe place separate from your cards of your account numbers, expiration dates, and the telephone numbers of each card issuer so you can report a loss quickly. To Do: Please sign on the signature panel on the reverse of the Card immediately with a non-

erasable ball-point pen (preferably in black ink). This will ensure that the benefits of membership are yours and yours alone. Keep the Card in a prominent place in your wallet. You will notice if it is missing.

Choosing the best Card: With the credit card truly becoming an international citizen, issuers have begun highlighting the value added features offered along with the basic product. While some of them

are offering attractive interest rates, others are luring customers by their reward schemes. With a plethora of choices on offer it is not easy to come to decide on any particular card. However, a comparison on the basis of a few basic parameters is will help us make an informed choice. Credit Limit: First, theres the credit limit. All banks have different limits set for customers depending upon the type of card in their possession. Even within a particular type of card, limits may vary depending upon the credit worthiness of the individual. This depends, among other things, on the gross income of the individual and the period for which he/she is using the card. However, some banks like Citibank and American Express have cards which have no set credit limit. Lost card liability: A second criterion could be the lost card liability. If one is traveling and has lost his/her credit card then reporting the loss will not be much of a problem. If there is no liability for the user and he is getting back the credit card quickly then user should opt for that credit card

Acceptability: The card should be acceptable at most of the establishments

Rewards: Nowadays, almost all cards come with various goodies attached. These include airline ticket booking and insurance benefits on lost luggage and accidental deaths. The latest in line of value added features are the rewards programs. Here a cardholder earns a certain number of points by spending a particular sum of money.

Interest rate: The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is the yearly interest rate or percentage rate that you pay on an outstanding balance in the form of interest. These charges will determine the costs you pay on your card over time. Lesser the Interest rate better the card is. . Global players in credit card market:

VISA Card: VISA a card is a product of VISA USA and along with MasterCard is distributed by financial institutions around the world. A VISA cardholder borrows money against a credit line and repays the money with interest if the balance is carried over from month to month in a revolving line of credit. Nearly 600 million cards carry one of the VISA brands and more than 14 million locations accept VISA cards. 1.55 billion Visa cards in circulation Over 20,000 member financial institutions .In 2006, total card sales volume accounted for US$4.6 trillion. MasterCard: MasterCard is a product of MasterCard International and along with VISA are distributed by financial institutions around the world. Cardholders borrow money against a line of credit and pay it back with interest if the balance is carried over from month to month. 23,000 financial institutions in 220 countries and territories issue its products. American Express: The worlds favorite card is American Express Credit Card. American Express operates in over 130 countries and it is poised to be the worlds No. 1 card in the near future. In a regressive US economy last year, the total amount spent on American Express cards rose by 4 percent. American Express cards are very popular in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Diners Club International: Diners Club is the worlds No. 1 Charge Card. Diners Club cardholders reside all over the world and the Diners Card is an all time favorite for corporates. There are more than 8 million Diners Club cardholders. They are affluent and are frequent travelers in premier businesses including Fortune 500 companies and leading global corporations. JCB Cards: The JCB Card has a merchant network of 14.05 million in approximately 190 countries. It is supported by over 320 financial institutions worldwide and serves more than 59 million cardholders in eighteen countries worldwide. The JCB philosophy of identify the customers needs and please the customer with Service from the Heart is paying rich dividends as their customers spend US $62.7billion annually on their JCB cards Basis for selection of banks: The banks have been taken on the basis of Highest Market capitalization. Market capitalization of the banks is given as below.

Market capitalization ( in crores) ICICI Bank SBI HDFC Bank PNB AXIS BANK 77,867.79 58,169.31 32,774.20 15,872.20 13,177.93

About ICICI BANK: ICICI Bank is India's second-largest bank with total assets of about Rs. 2,513.89 bn (US$ 56.3 bn) at March 31, 2006 and profit after tax of Rs. 25.40 bn (US$ 569 mn) for the year ended March 31, 2006). ICICI Bank has a network of 741 branches (including 48 extension counters) and over 3300 ATMs in India and presence in 30 International locations. 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 specialized subsidiaries. ICICI Bank set up its international banking group in fiscal 2002 to cater to the cross border needs of clients and leverage on its domestic banking strengths to offer products internationally. ICICI Bank is the most valuable bank in India in terms of market capitalization. ICICI Bank was originally promoted in 1994 by ICICI Limited, an Indian financial institution, and was its wholly-owned subsidiary. After consideration of various corporate structuring alternatives in the context of the emerging competitive scenario in the Indian banking industry, and the move towards universal banking, the managements of ICICI and ICICI Bank formed the view that the merger of ICICI with ICICI Bank would be the optimal strategic alternative for both entities In October 2001, the Boards of Directors of ICICI and ICICI Bank approved the merger. ICICI Bank Credit Cards: ICICI Bank Credit Cards give card holders the facility of cash, convenience and a range of benefits, anywhere in the world. These benefits range from life time free cards Insurance

benefits, global emergency assistance service, discounts, utility payments, travel discounts and much more. These benefits are according to the credit cards you choose and benefits of ICICI bank credit cards are mentioned as in next pages. Eligibility Criteria Cards Salaried All ICICI Bank Silver Credit Card Rs. 60000/- p.a. Eligibility Criteria Self Employed Rs. 50000/- p.a.

All ICICI Bank Gold Credit Card

Rs. 120000/- p.a.

Rs. 100000/- p.a.

ICICI Bank AMEX Gold Credit Card Rs. 250000/- p.a. Age Criteria Minimum Age Salaried Retired Self Employed 18 N/A 18

Rs. 250000/- p.a.

Maximum Age 70 70 65

ICICI Bank Buzz Credit Card: Special Features

Up to 5% cash back scheme Zero Cash Withdrawal Limit Discounts on dining outlets at 555 restaurants Life Time Free Credit card - No joining, annual or renewal fee Tie-ups with Youth Lifestyle Brands for discounts and offers

ICICI Bank Preferred Gold Credit Card: Special Features

0% fuel surcharge at select HPCL outlets Life Time Free Credit card - No joining, annual or renewal fee. 3.5% discount on air tickets (both international and domestic) booked through BTI-SITA. Discount on Dining and room rents at more than 500 restaurants/hotels across India. Low interest charges of just 1.49% pm on all retail purchases for the first 6 billing cycles,

thereafter interest charges of 2.95% are levied ICICI Bank Preferred Silver Credit Card Special Features

0% fuel surcharge at select HPCL outlets Life Time Free Credit card - No joining, annual or renewal fee. Low interest charges of just 1.69% pm on all retail purchases for the first 6 billing cycles, thereafter

interest charges of 2.95% are levied.

Discount on Dining and room rents at more than 500 restaurants across India.

ICICI Bank - HPCL Silver Credit Card

Special Features

Life Time Free Credit card - No joining, annual or renewal fee. Get cash back on your fuel purchases. Monthly fuel spends at HPCL outlets 0-499 500 1499 1500 2999 3000 and above Cash Back Nil 1% 1.50% 2.50%

ICICI Bank - HPCL Gold Credit Card Special Product Features

Life Time Free Credit card - No joining, annual or renewal fee Get cash back on your fuel purchases. Monthly fuel spends at HPCL outlets Till Rs. 500 Above Rs. 500 up to Rs. 1500 Above Rs. 1500 up to Rs. 3000 Above Rs. 3000 Cash Back Nil 1% 1.50% 2.50%

About 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. This is Indias second largest private sector bank. HDFC Bank's mission is to be a World-Class Indian Bank. The objective is to build sound customer franchises across distinct businesses so as to be the preferred provider of banking services for target retail and wholesale customer segments, and to achieve healthy growth in profitability, consistent with the bank's risk appetite. HDFC Bank's business philosophy is based on four core values - Operational Excellence, Customer Focus, Product Leadership and People. HDFC Credit Cards: All-purpose credit card The HDFC Bank Silver Credit Card can be used for all requirements of the customer, be it shopping, eating out, holidaying and fuelling up your vehicle, railway ticket reservations just about any financial requirement, planned or on impulse. This means it can solve your all purposes and is suitable to everybody. HDFC Value Plus Credit Card It's power packed with a host of unmatched features that provides Credit card holders family with true Value and savings. No like the name suggests, the Value Plus Credit Card brings you added value unlike any other card. It is a Guaranteed Cash Back card which enables you to earn up to 5% Cash Back on your spends

HDFC Bank Health Plus International Credit Card Introducing the - India's first health Care Credit Card with a free inbuilt Cashless Mediclaim. This card issued by HDFC Bank in association with the United India Insurance Company (UIIC), one of the leading insurance service providers. This card is designed keeping our good health in mind. It brings us unique features like the Cashless Mediclaim facility and discounts at leading hospitals which make it an unmatched product.

HDFC Bank International Gold Card Up to 5% cashback on air ticketing 5% cashback on train ticketing Discounts on hotel tariff The HDFC Bank Platinum Plus Credit Card India's only Platinum Plus Credit Card offering exclusive travel and preferential benefits. The HDFC Bank Platinum Plus Credit Card is the best Platinum offering in the market. This card is especially for the persons who travel a lot. HDFC Gold Business Card: Petro Surcharge Waiver Credit card holders can have full waiver of the fuel surcharge across all fuel pumps. Higher Credit Limits Credit card holders can get higher credit Limits Up to 10 lacs as credit limit on the card basis.

Rewards with your Card Benefits of exciting rewards Programme. Customer can earn 1 Rewards Point for every Rs.200 spent on your Card. By accumulating these, customer can redeem them into, gift cards and host of exciting gifts and offers Spend Based Interest Rates This the spend based Interest Rates credit card you pay lesser rate of interest when you spend more on the Gold Business card. The card offers a unique benefit of spend based interest rates. I.e. the more you spend on the card in a month the less interest you accrue. For e.g. The interest rates are 2.75% for spends upto Rs.10,000 in a month and 2.35% for spends more than Rs.10,000 on incremental spends. Save on Business spends Save on your business related spends with banks extensive partner tie-ups. Hdfc Bank partner tie-ups are across office and business equipment, services and supplies, Travel services, Telecommunications & Security System and Services with leading brands including HP Laptops, Tata AIG, Airtel Blackberry, Godrej, AFL Wiz and many more.

Business Insurance The card offers inbuilt insurance to cover your business office premises towards fire and burglary for up to 2 lacs. Travel Insurance Covers

Air Accident Cover - 10 Lacs. Rail / Road Accident Cover - 3 Lacs. Purchase Protection - 50,000. Hospitalization Cover - 50,000.

About State Bank of India: State Bank of India (SBI) was nationalized in July 1955 under the SBI Act of 1955. Seven banks of SBI formed subsidiary and was nationalized on 19th July, 1960. The State Bank of India is India's largest commercial bank and is ranked one of the top five banks worldwide. It serves 90 million customers through a network of 9,000 branches and it offers either directly or through subsidiaries a wide range of banking services. The State Bank of India has been, over the years, the flagship of Indian banking. State Bank of India is the largest bank in India in terms of profits, assets, deposits, branches and employees. With a network of over 9,000 branches in India and 51 foreign offices in 32 countries, the Bank commands about one-fifth of the total deposits and loans in all scheduled commercial banks in the country. Over the years, the Bank has expanded rapidly. The Reserve Bank of India is the single largest shareholder of the Bank (with 59.73% stockholding followed by 14.1% NRI/FIIs, 11.8% financial institutions, 11.1% individuals and remaining with mutual funds and corporates). SBI's shares and bonds are listed for trading on all the major Indian stock exchanges. Its GDR is listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange SBI Credit Cards: The SBI Credit Card offers a Classic VISA card duly acceptable in India and Nepal. It transfers all the advantages provided by the VISA Card. The present eligibility for applying for the SBI Credit Card is Rs. 75,000 for salaried and Rs. 60,000 p.a. for businessmen SBI Credit Card is acceptable over 1,05,000 merchants in India and Nepal. The SBI Credit Card is accepted to 117 cash point locations in 57 cities from Leh to Port Blair. The daily withdrawal limit is Rs. 10,000. SBI Credit Card comes with an insurance of Rs. 2 lakhs on road and Rs. 4 lakhs by air. Year 1998 saw a new vista opening for the Indian credit card users. GE Capital Services, the largest issuer of private label credit cards in the world and State Bank of India, the largest Indian bank created two companies to address the market: namely, SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd. (SBICPSL) and GE Capital Business Process management Services ltd. (GECBPMSL). The joint venture was set up to leverage the brand equity, customer relationship and the unparalleled network of SBI and the technological processes and service capabilities of GE Capital to offer products that are value for money and supported by quality and service.

Special Features of SBI credit cards: World Wide Acceptance SBI credit card is accepted across the globe at over 24 million VISA outlets including 110,000 VISA outlets in India. Just look for the VISA sign of acceptance and present your card for payment. Also there is no place in the world you cannot access money from. Over 30 million VISA outlets worldwide and 110,000 VISA ATMs accept this card. Balance Transfer Facility Credit card holders can now enjoy high savings with low interest rate. If they transfer the balances from their other Bank Credit Card to their SBI Credit Card and enjoy Balance Transfer Plans as suited to their financial needs & avail of a low-rate of interest. To avail this facility, the amount transferred should be a minimum of Rs 5,000 or upto a maximum of 75% of your available credit limit on the SBI Credit Card, whichever is higher.

Flexipay With the convenient installment scheme, Flexipay SBI credit cardholders can choose their own installment plan, to take care of your expenses all this at a lower rate of interest in affordable monthly installments. So this card caters to everybody according to their needs Get cash anytime, anywhere With SBI credit card you now have the unique privilege of withdrawing 100% of your credit limit as cash. So when you are on vacation or traveling or if you face an emergency you can now use your SBI Card to withdraw cash up to 100% of your credit limit. With the SBI Card, you can withdraw cash from over 810,000 VISA ATMs spread across the globe. In India, the cash network spans over 251 SBI Card Cash Points in 100 cities and 5500 VISA ATMs across the country. You can also use the SBI Card to access cash from 4400 plus SBI ATMs.

Fill it Up SBI card offers Card holders a tank full of advantages. Just use your card to purchase fuels and other lubricants for amounts exceeding Rs. 400 up to Rs. 2000, each time, at designated Indian Oil & IBP petrol pumps and save transaction fee. Protection Plus Protection Plus is an Insurance cover to provide customer complete protection through Personal Accident Insurance: Enhances the Free Accident cover by an additional Rs. 6 lacs in case of Accidental Death or Disability for as little as Rs. 24 per month and Credit Shield: Protects the outstanding on customers SBI card, for a maximum of Rs. 1 lac, in the event of Death or Disability (due to any cause)...for a premium as low as 0.1% (i.e. Re.1 for every Rs. 1,000) of the outstanding on your card. All this at a nominal Administration charge of Rs. 18 pm.

Book your Railway Tickets Online SBI Card offers you the unique convenience of booking Railway Tickets Online and getting them delivered at your doorstep. Personal Concierge Car Rental Limousine Booking Hotel Reservations Restaurant Reservations Movie Tickets Flower and Gift Delivery

Medical SOS Emergency and Routine Medical Advice from a Coordinating Doctor Doctors, Hospitals & ambulance contacts at your disposal

Appointment confirmations & accommodation arrangements Emergency Message to family & employer in an emergency Medical Expense Payment for Out Patient & In-Patient bills Medical Evacuation, Aid on way to the nearest hospital

Interest Free Credit for up to 50 days Get up to 50 days of interest free credit on your purchases through SBI credit card, on payment of your current bill statement in full. Further, use your cards extended credit facility, and just pay a minimum of 5% of the total outstanding.

Travel Benefit As a cardholder, you get great discounts and benefits with AVIS (AVIS Group operates the worlds second largest general-use car rental business) all over the world. With SBI card you will get an AWD (AVIS Worldwide Discount) number which will entitle you to discounts in Europe and USA (25%), Africa, Middle East, Asia, Canada and Latin America (15%), India (15% on chauffeur-driven and 20% on self-driven cars).

About AXIS Bank AXIS BANK was the first of the new private banks to have begun operations in 1994, after the Government of India allowed new private banks to be established. The Bank was promoted jointly by the Administrator of the specified undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (UTI - I), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and General Insurance Corporation Ltd. and other four PSU companies, i.e. National Insurance Company Ltd., The New India Assurance Company, The Oriental Insurance Corporation and United Insurance Company Ltd. The Bank today is capitalized to the extent of Rs. 281.63 crore with the public holding (other than promoters) at 56.89%. The Bank's Registered Office is at Ahmedabad and its Central Office is located at Mumbai. Presently, the Bank has a very wide network of more than 561 branch offices and Extension Counters. The Bank has a network of over 2341 ATMs providing 24hrs a day banking convenience to its customers. This is one of the largest ATM networks in the country. The Bank has strengths in both retail and corporate banking and is committed to adopting the best industry practices internationally in order to achieve excellence. AXIS Bank credit cards: Gold Plus Credit Card Gold Credit Card Silver Plus Credit Card Silver Credit Card

Exclusive Benefits Complimentary Return Flight Vouchers Through AXIS Bank Credit Card customer can claim a complimentary return flight voucher. The voucher can be used to indicate three choices of destinations from a list 29 destinations within India. Customer can also avail the facility to purchase additional air tickets for a companion at a substantially discounted rate of Rs 5,000 for return flight.

50% Guaranteed Discounts on Hotels The AXIS Bank Credit Card entitles customers to Silver Mini membership at no extra cost. Enjoy a guaranteed 50% discount at over 1,500 hotels worldwide that includes 120 hotels in India plus a 20% discount on Hertz Car rentals Petrol Surcharge Waiver With AXIS bank Credit customer can get a fuel surcharge waiver across all petrol stations in India. The waiver is valid for a minimum transaction amount of Rs 200 and a maximum of Rs 2,500.

Global Acceptance AXIS Bank Gold Plus Credit Card gives the facility to be in control anywhere in the world. The AXIS Bank Credit Card is accepted at over 23 million VISA accepting merchant establishments worldwide. This is in addition to over 2,50,000 VISA merchant establishments in India and Nepal. Interest Free period With AXIS Bank credit card customer Get upto 50 days free credit period on purchase transactions without any finance charge being levied to his card account. Cash Advance Facility Credit card holders can use AXIS Bank Gold Plus Credit Card to withdraw cash upto 30% of their credit limit from over 1 million VISA ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) around the world. In India, customer can access cash around the-clock, 365 days a year from any of the 18,000 ATMs that display the VISA sign. Comprehensive Insurance Cover

AXIS Bank Credit Card includes a package of insurance benefits to set card holders mind at ease. About Punjab National Bank Punjab National Bank (PNB) is one of the 500 largest banks in the world, and enjoys a rich history and heritage. PNB was the first Indian bank to be started solely with Indian capital. Established in 1895 at Lahore, and nationalized in 1969, it has worked assiduously to build the banking sector in rural and urban India. It has presence in remote areas of the country, cutting across cultural and linguistic boundaries. Punjab National Bank India maintains relationship with more than 200 leading international banks world wide. PNB India has Rupee Drawing Arrangements with 15 exchange companies in UAE and 1 in Singapore. PNBs principal activities are to provide treasury and banking operations. The activities include accepting deposits, lending loans and to provide other financial related services. The banking operations provides short and long term loans to agricultural, small scale industries and other priority sectors. PNB also offers internet banking facilities to its customers. At 31-Mar -2006, PNB operates through 4510 banking branches, 444 extensions counters serving its 3.5 crore customers with the following wide variety of banking services like:

Corporate banking Personal banking Industrial finance Agricultural finance Financing of trade International banking

About PNB credit cards: The PNB Credit Card is issued in two variants GOLD card Classic Card

The credit Card is being offered to Indian Nationals who have either their residence or office in any cities, in India. PNB International Credit Card is issued only to customers who have either their residence or their office in one of the cities where PNB will provide the services. It enables the card holder to buy goods and services at over 99270 merchant establishments across the country. Besides, the card can be used to withdraw cash at more than 25000 ATMs, where the 'Maestro' logo is displayed, apart from the PNB's over 898 ATMs and tie up arrangements with other Banks. Punjab National Bank is having tie up with with Hong Kong & Shangai Banking Corporation Ltd. (HSBCL), one of the world's leading financial instititAXISons. for its cobranded international credit card.

PNB Credit Card Features Annual & Joining fee is waived off for the 1st year as a special offer to the public. Acceptance at over 18 million establishments worldwide. Worldwide ATM access for credit card accountholders at close to 1 Million ATMs. Free credit period of up to 52 days. Cardholders while using cards also earn points that can be redeemed against renewal fees, gift vouchers etc. 3.0% discount on basic domestic air fares and 5.0% discount on international air tickets with specified travel agents. No surcharge on purchase of petrol ranging Rs 400/- to 3000/- pm from any petrol pump.

CASH WITHDRAWAL FACILITY PNB International Credit Card also provides cash withdrawal facility from nearly 1 Million ATMs that accept the MasterCard or Visa mark cards, including nearly 80 inbranches and off- branch ATMs of HSBC in India. Credit Card will be issued to customers maintaining a prescribed minimum balance in their Savings Fund account and

availed Housing/Car loan from PNB, without any proof of income documents, as a special case. Annual income requirement for applying under the two categories of the PNB Credit Card is PNB Gold Card - Rs.1, 75,000/- p.a. PNB Classic Card -- Rs.72, 000/- p.a.

About the project: These days, payments through credit cards are getting very famous and it is becoming one of the most important businesses of the banks. We use credit cards for certain facilities like payment of the petrol, balance transfer, cash facilities, shopping, and business transactions. The banks claim that the service they provide through credit cards is very economical and valuable but in actual, it is not. In this project, the main focus is to find out the gaps in the services provided by the banks in credit cards or through credit cards and then next objective is that how these gaps can be plugged. Another aspect that is to be considered that card holders gives how much weightage to each and every determinant of service quality by method of servqual. Through determinants of service quality, we can assess that what are the reasons for the gaps in the service quality and how these gaps can be plugged. SERVICE A service is any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product. It is difficult to generalize services because of the varying goods to service mix. Services may either be equipment based (vending machines) or people based (Education services). Further people based services may vary depending upon whether they are provided by unskilled, skilled or professional workers. Some services require the client's presence. If the client must be present, the service provider has to be considerate of his or her needs, e.g. they can invest in their shop's decor, play background music, etc. Service also differs as to whether they meet a personal need or a business need; Service providers typically develop different marketing programs for personal and business markets. Finally, service providers differ

in their objectives (profit or non-profit) and ownership (private or public). Marketing objectives for each of these types differ. MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS OF SERVICES (THE 41'S) Services have four major characteristics that greatly affect the design of marketing programs. 1. Intangibility:unlike physical products, services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard or smelled before they are bought. The person getting a face-lift cannot see the exact result before the purchase and the patient in the psychiatrist's office cannot know the exact outcome. To reduce uncertainty, the buyers look for signs of evidence of the service quality. They will draw inferences about the quality from the place, people, equipment, communication material, symbols, and price that they see. Therefore the service provider's task is to "manage the evidence", to "tangibles the intangible." 2. Inseparability: We cant separate the services from place of product .Services are typically produced and consumed simultaneously. This is not true of physical goods, which are manufactured, put to inventory, distributed through multiple resellers, and consumed later if a person renders the service, and then the provider is part of the service. 3. Variability: since they depend on who provides them and when and where they are provided, services are highly variable. Some doctors have excellent bedside manner: others are less patient with their patients. Some surgeons are very successful in performing a certain operation: others are less successful. Service buyers are aware of this variability and often talk to others before selecting a service provider. 4. Perishability: services cannot be stored. Unlike products, the services cannot be produced and stored in advance of their demand. The Perishability of services is not a problem when demand is steady. When demand fluctuates, service firms have problems. For example, public transportation companies have to own much more equipment because of rush hour demand than if demand were even throughout the day. Some doctors charge patients for missed appointments because the service value existed only at that point.

SERVICE ORGANIZATION An organization providing intangible services rather than tangible goods is termed as Service organization. In the standard industrial classification, service organizations include hotels, restaurants and other lodging and eating establishments, barber shops, beauty parlors and other personal services, repair services, motion picture, television and other amusement and recreational services, legal services and accounting, engineering, research/development, architecture and other professional organization. It also includes educational organizations, banks, insurance companies and other financial institAXISons. Also government agencies and most other non-profit organizations are service organizations. CHARACTERISTICS OF SERVICE ORGANISATIONS Quantity Measurement It is easy to keep track of the quantity of tangible goods, both during the production process and when the goods are sold, but it is not easy to measure the quantity of many services. We can measure the number of patients that a physician treats in a day, for example, and even classify these visits by type of complaint, but this is by no means equivalent to measuring the amount of service that the physician provides to each of these patients. For many services the amount rendered can be measured only in a crude termsif at all. , Absence of inventory Goods can be held in inventory and this inventory is a buffer that dampens the impact on production activity of fluctuations in sales volume. Services cannot be stored. If the services available today are not sold, the revenue from these services is lost forever. Resources available for sale in many service organizations are essentially fixed. In the short run, a hotel can't increase the number of rooms that it offers for rent and it does not reduce costs substantially by closing down some of its rooms. These facts cause a great stress to be placed on planning for an amount of available services that is not in excess of what can be sold currently and on marketing efforts to sell these resources each day. The loss from unsold services is such an important factor that it normally is a key variable in service organizations of all types

Quality Measurement The quality of tangible goods can be inspected, and in most cases the inspection can be performed before goods are released to the customer. If the goods are defective there is physical evidence of the nature of the defect. The quality of a service can't be inspected in advance at best it can be inspected during the time that the service is being rendered to the clients. Judgments as to the adequacy of the quality of the most services are subjective measuring instruments and objective quality standards do not exist. An accounting firm can measure the number of hours spent on an audit, but not the thoroughness of the work done during those hours. A consulting firm has no objective way of appraising the soundness of its recommendations.

SERVICE QUALITY & ITS ASSESSMENT There are a number of different "definitions" as to what is meant by services quality. In its simplest form service quality is a product of the effort that every member of the organization invests in satisfying customers. In its broadest sense service quality is defined as superiority or excellence as perceived by the customer. More especially service quality has been defined as:

The delivery of excellent or superior service relative to customer expectations. Quality is behavior - an attitude - that says you will never settle for anything less

community, your stockholders or colleagues with whom you work every day. When we want to be effective - delivering good quality to the customer - we must

produce services that meet "as much as possible" the needs of the consumer. Quality is providing a better service than the customer expects. One that is commonly us defines services quality as the extent to which a service meets customer's needs or expectations. Today the most popular model of service quality in use is service quality gap model and the by Parsuraman et a1.Zeithaml et a1. (1988) defined perceived service quality in their model as the difference between consumer expectations and their perceptions.

Service Quality Gaps: Service quality a critical component of customers perception will be the dominant element in customer evaluation. In cases where customer service or services are offered in combination with a physical product, service quality may also be very critical in determining customer satisfaction. Customers judge their quality of service on their perception of the technical outcome and how was the outcome delivered. For example, a legal service client will judge the quality of outcome, or how the court case was delivered, and also the quality of the process. Process quality also includes such things as lawyers timeliness, the responsiveness in returning phone calls, his empathy for the client, his courtesy and interviewing skills. Similarly, a restaurant customer will judge the service on customer's perception of the meals (technical outcome quality) and on how the meal was served and on how the employees interacted with customers (process quality). Some researchers found that customers consider following five dimensions in their assessment of service quality:

Empathy: Caring, individualized attention given to customers. Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. Reliability: Ability to perform the desired service dependably and accurately Assurance: Employee knowledge and courtesy and their ability to inspire trust and confidence Tangibility: Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and written material These dimensions represent how consumers organize information, about service quality in their minds. On the basis of exploratory and quantitative research, these five dimensions are found. Relevant for banking, insurance, appliance repair and maintenance, securities brokerage, long distance telephone service, automobile repair service and others. The dimensions are also applicable to retail and business services. Sometimes customers will use all these dimensions to

determine service quality perceptions at other times not. For example, in remote encounter such as an encounter with ATM, empathy is not likely to be relevant dimension and in an encounter such as scheduling a repair call, tangibles will not be relevant. There are seven major gaps in service quality, which are shown in fig. This model is an extension of Parsuraman al. (1985). And is given by Lovelock .According to the (Service quality systems, 1992, Curry, 1999; Luk and Layton, 2002), the three important gaps are more associated with the external environment are Gap1, Gap 5 and Gap6; they have a direct relationship with customers. These all seven gaps are shown in the diagram.

Seven Service Quality Gaps:

Customer needs and expectations

Customer

1. Knowledge Gap
Management definition of these needs

Management

2. Standards Gap

Translation into design/delivery specs

Design/delivery specs

3. Delivery Gap 4. I.C.Gap Execution of 5. Perceptions Gap

Advertising and sales promises

Customer perceptions of product execution

Customer interpretation of communications

6. Interpretation Gap

7.

Service Gap
Customer experience relative to expectations

Knowledge: Learn what customers expect--conduct research, dialogue, feedback Standards: Specify SQ standards that reflect expectations Delivery: Ensure service performance matches specs--consider roles of employees, equipment, customers

Internal communications: Ensure performance levels match marketing promises Perceptions: Educate customers to see reality of service delivery Interpretation: Pretest communications to make sure message is clear and unambiguous

Gap1: Customers expectation versus management perception:

Many reasons exist for managers not being aware of what customer expects. They may not interact directly with the customers, be unwilling to ask about expectations, or be unprepared to address them. When people with the authority and responsibility for setting priorities directly understand customer service expectation they may trigger a chain of bad decision to optimal resource allocation that result in perceptions of poor service quality. The employee in the organization with the authority to change or influence has to take opinions from the employees working under them to know the expectations of the customers. In todays changing organization, the authority to make adjustments in the service delivery is delegated to empowered teams and front line people. Key Factors leading to Gap1: Inadequate marketing research orientation. Lack of upwards communication. Insufficient relationship focus. Inadequate service recovery.

Gap2: Management perceptions versus service specifications A recurring theme in the service companies is the difficulty experienced in translating customers expectations into service quality specifications. Customers driven standards are different from the conventional performance standards that most service companies establish in that they are based on pivotal customer requirements that are visible to and measured by the customers. They are operations standards set to correspond to customer expectations and priorities rather than to company concern such as productivity or efficiency.

Key Factors leading to Gap2: Poor service designs. Absence of customer defined standards. Inappropriate physical evidence and services cape

Gap3: Service specifications versus service delivery

This gap is the discrepancy between development of customer-driven service standard and actual performance by company employees. Even when guidelines exist for performing services well and treating customers correctly, high- quality service performance is not certainty. Standards must be backed by appropriate resources (people, systems and technology) and also must be enforced to be effective that is, employees must be measured and compensated on the basis of performance along those standards. Thus even when standards accurately reflect customers expectations, if the company fails to provide support for them. Then strict actions should be taken to ensure that their should not be any delivery gap. When the level of service delivery performance falls short of the standards, it falls short of various customers expectations as well.

Key factors leading to Gap3: Deficiencies in human resource policies. Failure to match supply and demand. Customers not fulfilling roles.

Gap4: Service delivery versus external communication: Promise made by a service company through its media advertising sales force and other communications may potentially raise customers expectations that serve as the standards against which customers may assess service quality. The discrepancy between the actual and promised service therefore has an adverse effect on the customer gaps. Broken promises can occur for many reasons: over promising in advertising or personal selling, inadequate coordination between operations and marketing, and differences in policies and procedures across service outlets. Key Factors leading to Gap4: Lack of integrated service marketing communication. Ineffective management of customer expectation. Over promising Inadequate horizontal communication.

Gap5: The discrepancy between customer expectations and their perceptions on the service delivered. Expectations are the reference points customers have coming into service expectations. Interceptions reflect the service as actually received. The idea is that firms will want to cover the gaps- between what is expected and what is received by the customers or whether they have got the same facilities or not what they have been told in the past.

Gap6: Customer Interpretation of communication The gap occurs as a result of differences in the understanding of what companies are communicating and customers are taking that message as something else. Other reason is differences in the understanding of future expectations by the line service providers.

Gap7: Customer experience (service gap) It is a result of the influences exerted from the customer side and the shortfalls on the service provider. In this case, customer expectations are influenced by their personal needs, word of mouth recommendation and past service experience. so this gap can be know by that whether customers are satisfied with the services provided or not.

SERVQUAL

SERVQUAL is a service quality assessment tool. Since the development of SERVQUAL, it has been extensively applied leading Robinson (1999) to state that there would seem to be little doubt that SERVQUAL is the most favored instrument for measuring service quality. SERVQUAL was designed to measure service quality in a variety of different businesses-or better business models. From the results of a set of about 100 questions Parasuraman et al (1985) concluded that consumers perceive quality by comparing expectations 'to performance and evaluate the

quality of the service in different dimensions. The first set comprised ten dimensions. Then after further questions that were not clearly related to a dimension were discarded. A revised scale was used in a second sample, questions were tested and the result was 22-question (item) scale measuring five basic dimensions. These dimensions are given below in the Diagram.

Determinants of Service Quality:

Based on these quality dimensions Parasuraman et al (1988) developed a series of standard questionnaires.. The answers are measured on a seven-point Likert scale with 7 indicating, "Strongly agree" and 1 strongly disagree APPLICATION AND EXTENSION OF SERVQUAL Although SERVQUAL is far from being generally accepted by academics it has been adapted to measure service quality in a variety of settings - probably more than any other service quality measurement method. Following are examples of industries and organizations where SERQUAL has been applied. Published studies include tyre retailing (Carman, 1990). Hotels (Saleh and Ryan, 1992), travel and tourism (Fick and Ritchie, 1991), car-servicing (Bouman and

van der Wiele, 1992), business schools (Rigotti and Pitt, 1992) information services (Pitt et al. 1995), higher education ( McElwee and Redman,1993) local government ( Brysland and Curry, 2001), health care applications (Babakus and Manglod, 1992) and many more.

UNIT-2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE Daniel Levine (1994) SAN FRANCISCI BUSINESS TIMES (SFBT) India would have second largest number of credit cards in issue after America by 2000. Visa believes that while the India card holding is still relatively small the potential is huge. It estimates a market size of 40 million (thats less than 4.5% of the present population of India) Indians with annual income of over and 30,000. It estimates that the sheer number represents the level of affluence which is far greater than many developed nations. Visa estimates that over one million cards are in operation in India. They are interested in targeting the top consumers- the upper middle class and high net worth individuals. Their assessment is that the market is between 3 & 5 million and could reach over 10 million in four years. Fernand L (Sept 1994) Card issuers have a set of criteria that they use to judge credit worthiness. Checklist for card issuers: Credit evaluation: Does the customer is paying his bills in time? Is he living with his means? A bad credit history will make it difficult to obtain a credit card. A good credit may mean additional credit when one needs. However if one does not have a credit history, many banks will provide a basic low-limit credit card. Responsible use of ones first card is a good way to start building a positive credit record, capacity: Does one have capacity to repay? One will receive a credit limit according to his income to help him manage spending. Capital: The assets one owns will also be taken into a/c. Home, Car, bank accounts in investments are favorably considered. Mahanta V (1997) Co branding cards is just a partnership between the card issuer & the commercial entity. The benefits are to both the partners. The card issuer increases its customer base & builds loyalty & utility or the merchant establishment gains in terms of brand image & business that might otherwise have not come its way. One should opt for the co branded card that offers true value of money.

Mehta V (1998) The market for credit cards also offers opportunities for foreign players like Citibank & Morgan Stanley. All are busy trying to broaden their financial service franchises. For these foreign institutions that take deposits, such as Citigroup cards are a lucrative way to recycle. and to establish their brand in India. Vijayshankar N (1998) For the efficient use of credit cards & trying to maximize ones investments it is also necessary to keep an eye on increasing savings potential. In order to achieve the savings targets we set for ourselves, it is important to plug away unplanned expenses & to insure against possible incidence of contingent expenses such as medical expenses. Visa International (1999) Defining the working of credit card this research states that a credit card is a safe, secure & convenient financial management tool that offers many benefits. Its important to remember that owning a credit card carries many responsibilities. When used improperly credit card can get you in trouble. When used wisely, it is safe, practical & convenient Credit card & management consultancy (2000) Indias first card consultancy service for both card issuers/banks and card customers. Currently, there are 3.8 million cards in circulation in India. 71% of first time credit card applicants in India expressed the need for advice on appropriate card selection, amidst the plethora of credit cards available in the Indian Credit cards market. 57% of single credit card holders wanting something more on a card felt the need for assistance in choosing a suitable credit card for themselves.

Singh Sukhmeet (2001) Prospects of credit cards in Ludhiana. He said that 82% of the respondents were possessing credit cards & 15% respondents responded positive to own a credit card in future. He concluded from the study that only those persons who earlier had faced with problem of overspending had quitted credit cards. Its just psychology that makes them to think so otherwise the benefits of credit cards are highly appreciated. Some customers are financially sound but dont possess a credit card because they are not a income tax assess or they dont have any business i.e. mainly they have land & assets against which credit card is not issued.

Visa International (2003) According to Visa Internationals latest data, average Indian cardholder uses his card 9.3 times, spending about Rs. 14,700 per year. A number of card owners do not use their cards and almost 20 30 % cards are inactive (less than one usage every quarter). An important fact that should be observed is that it is only in the past few years that the Indian customer is beginning to accept Credit. The Indian culture doesnt promote credit, and it is this outlook change which is the most important development for the credit card industry. HSBC (2003) As per the research conducted, major problem is low awareness level among consumer. The credit card market in India is about 3 million with a value turnover of around Rs.2500 crores. The market is expected to grow by 30% p.a. This would still be a very low penetration of a potential market of 60 million cardholders. The credit card business is a low-margin, high volume business. Thus, given the low income per card and the high initial investments by the bank, large volumes in terms of cards issued and the transactions financed are required to make the operations profitable. Chakravorti Sujit (2003) Credit cards provide benefits to consumers and merchants not provided by other payment instruments as evidenced by their explosive growth in the number and value of transactions over the last 20 years. Recently, credit card networks have come under scrutiny from regulators and antitrust authorities around the world. Focusing on interrelated bilateral transactions, several theoretical models have been constructed to study the implications of several business practices of credit card networks Oikos (2004) The underlying evolutionary mechanisms of urban bird populations have hardly been studied. High food density and low predation risk serve to explain the global pattern of extremely high urban bird population densities. Both these bottom-up and top-down effects are paradoxical since the per capita amount of food is small due to competition, and domestic predator density is high in cities. The bottom-up paradox can be resolved by taking into account the high food resource-predictability in cities. Concerning the top-down effect, recent studies suggest that at least when it comes to nest predation the effect of cats is minor. I suggest that the combination of high food predictability and low predation risk in cities alter bird foraging behaviour, which in turn affects population dynamics. In terms of density, the result is that bird populations exceed the carrying capacity of the urban environment, costing heavily on body

condition and/or life span. Under such conditions the population should consist of a few winners and many losers. Only the winners have sufficient access to food resources and the opportunity to reproduce. The highly predictable continuous input of food in the urban environment allows them to "live on their credit". They may trade off between offspring body condition and clutch size. In the lack of predation, the losers among the fledglings may survive for a relatively long period, getting just enough energy to survive. Though they may never become healthy enough to reproduce, they will have a major contribution to the observed population density. Results of several case studies seem to support the credit card hypothesis and suggest that it can serve as a general rule for the evolution of animal populations and communities in highly predictable human managed environments. J Y Umranikar (2006) In India, credit card fraud is mostly limited to the physical space. Online con jobs make up just about 1% of the total numbers here, unlike 40% in the developed world. But, as consumers graduate to the shop-easy internet and pay with their cards, instances of fraud are bound to rise While consumer organizations TOI spoke to had little information about online fraud, 60% of online card fraud occurs only while buying an air ticket one way out is to insist on customer identity at the time of actually boarding a flight. For safer transactions, an advanced card such as Verified by Visa and MasterCard Secure Code comes in handy. Here, a consumer requires a password during a transaction to validate his identity Sarbajeet K. Sen. (2006) India is shining for Visa. There are roughly about 33 million Visa cards in India. Visa market share in India by purchase volumes is 70 per cent against MasterCard. If American Express cards are also Included, Visa market share would be about 6465 per cent. The volume of transaction as on September 2005 was $1.2 billion. The number of Visa cards has been growing at about roughly 77 per cent compounded annually during the last four years. In terms of purchase volume, the compounded annual growth is roughly about 50 per cent .The only other country that could possibly be growing at a faster rate than India is China. India is also pretty much an incubator of new ideas and innovations. Some of these innovations like Visa Bill-Pay or Visa money transfer that allows transfer of money to any visa card in India

Economic Times (2006) India has now become the third biggest card market for Visa International in Asia Pacific after Japan and Korea. But the country has a long way to go in terms of card spend, where it lags behind a number of countries in the region. Visa is supposed to be the market leader in both credit and in India. As on March 31, 06, Visa saw a 36% growth in the number of cards issued. The current number of credit cards stands at 12m. The total number of credit cards issued in India as on the period is estimated to be at around 47m and 18m respectively Vyas Mohan (2007) In the case of credit cards, it is better to go to bed without supper than rise in debt. If you cannot afford it, do not buy a credit card. Be aware that most banks charge additional fees and higher interest rates for late payments of credit card dues. Hence, use a credit card only if you are sure of making payments within a realistic period making the most out of your card starts with picking the right card to suit your need and then minimizing costs, including interest payments. For those who are of the kind to clear the outstanding balance each month within the due date, interest costs on the card would not be a matter of concern. In such cases, it is better to go for cards that carry rewards. Reducing interest payments on your card to the maximum possible extent is the best way of using it. If possible, pay the entire outstanding amount before the due date on your statement or at least the minimum payable amount. Financial Express (2007) Credit card holders in India, who pay the highest rates of interest in the world, have been ripped of Rs 6,000 crore as 'extra charges' by banks in a span of ten years, according to a rights group. The banks have already extracted around Rs 6,000 crore in the name of late fee, cash advance fee, billed finance fee, over-limit fee, cash withdrawal fee, cheque pick up fee and service taxes on all these fees CV Gidappa, General Secretary of Credit Card Holders' Association of India (CCHAI), said in Chennai quoting a study conducted by his group said banks charge more for credit card transactions as they foresee higher risk of default due to the insecure nature of transactions. Further, credit cards are more convenient tools for easy borrowing. As part of the study, the association went through the balance sheets and Loss and Profit statements of all private as well as nationalized banks, checking their interest income and non-interest income since 1992 after the introduction credit cards in India, Gidappa said the average interest rates on the card transactions and loans in India are highest in the world, he said.

Mehta (2007) The new credo of credit card marketing is platinum. Move over plain-vanilla or co-branded options. Credit card companies are doling out bundled benefits in their cards to woo the affluent Indian. Dining, health & wellness, travel and complimentary signing-in offers galore when the cardholder picks up the card, some for free, but most at a premium. Currently, the privilege card universe comprises 2% of the 22-million credit card market in India. Now, higher margins and lower operating costs (since the base is low) are enticing marketers to go platinum. Marketers are drumming up the platinum card to carve a piece of the growing affluent population. With growing consumerism, this card is getting more prestigious and its utilization is also growing says These cards present a higher credit limit to their patrons. Indiainfoline (2007) According to the survey, in general, women are less likely than men to say they pay off the full amount each month (34 percent versus 41 percent). Also, those who do not save regularly are significantly less likely than their male counterparts to report they pay the full amount on their credit cards each month (18 percent versus 47 percent). 37% say they generally pay the full amount of their credit card bill(s) each month. 13% say they usually pay the full amount but not always 24% say they pay as much as they can but usually leave a balance 11% report that they usually pay the minimum but not much more13% said they did not have any credit cards

"Service Quality Gap Model in Credit Cards (A study of selected banks in Ludhiana)

Objectives: To study the problems faced by the credit card holders. To study how to these service quality gaps can be plugged. To study the expectations of the consumers and in return services given by banks to credit card holder.

NEED FOR STUDY It may seem very difficult to get by without them in this day and age, but the fact of the matter is it's becoming more and more expensive to live with them. Thats because credit card companies have managed to stack the deck in their favors, thanks to obliging lawmakers and regulators who have allowed them to gouge consumers for exorbitant fees and unconscionable interest rates In present use of credit cards is becoming very popular. Because of the services provided through credit cards is continuously increasing like from dine at restaurants to petrol filling payment of every transaction can be done by credit cards? But the problem here is that the credit card service providers claims that they are not charging not any extra charges but in actual it is not At the time of issuing credit card they say that it is free of cost but in actual they charge for certain factors like Balance transfer, fees Inactivity charges, Late payment fees, so what they communicate they doesnt perform. They claims that they charge nominal interest but doesnt tells about the hidden charges so there is a need for that what are the expectations of the credit card holders and in return what are the services provided by the banks means what are the service quality gaps and how these gaps can be filled because credit card service providers doesnt disclose all the facts at the time of issuing credit cards so, that is the need for research.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY The Scope of the study is confined to Ludhiana city the time period of the study is restricted to nearly 4 months i.e. December 2006 to Date of completion of study. The reason for choosing such time period is simply due to nature of study i.e. Services provided by the banks to the credit card holders and reasons for not fulfilling their expectations. This study on completion is likely to be great help to banks and all companies providing credit card services. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Nature of research The study will be Exploratory and Descriptive. This study is mainly concerned about an existing problem and its basic nature cause and effect. It is concerned with discovering and testing certain variables with respect to their services. The study will focus on the various problems faced by credit card holders and how these gaps can be filled Data Collection For this study a data of selected banks would be taken. For the purpose of this study both primary and secondary data will be used. Primary Data: - Structured Questionnaire will be used that will cover the following areas Purpose or reasons for using credit card. What are the expectations of credit card holders? Preferences to determinants of service quality through servqual How service quality gaps can be plugged?

Secondary Data: - Data will be collected from various Banks websites credit card section published reports, newspapers, and journals etc. These are mentioned in Bibliography. Sampling Plan: Sampling technique Stratified sampling technique will be used in this project Universe For the purpose of the study the universe is all banks in Ludhiana providing credit card services. Five banks will be selected as sample from Private and Public sectors bank the ratio of two banks from Public Sector and three banks from Private sector banks operating in India. The selection of the sample has been done on the basis of their respective market Capitalization. Sampling Unit 1. Credit card Holders of Banks The data will be collected from approximately 100 respondents (preferably 20 customers from each bank) from the selected sample. The respondents will be the customers holding credit cards of this selected bank only. Even though customers might have more than one credit card but credit card of only one bank is considered for research. Data analysis and Interpretation The response will be gathered through structured questionnaires. There would be two questionnaires for gathering the information. First questionnaire is to know that what are the gaps and second questionnaire is to know that how the gaps can be plugged. Apart from that one servqual is also get filled to know the customers expectations further analysis of the data through application of appropriate statistical tools that is percentage & mean.

Limitations of the Study The selected sample may or amy not be considered as a true representative of the whole population. It is difficult to interpretate from the data about the whole of the indian credit card industry. Only five banks data has been taken for making a judgement which might not be enough to do so. Credit card holder might be having different opinion towards the credit card of other bank if he or she is having more than one credit card. Execive calculations has to be done for the statastical measures which is the biggest constrian for the reasearch work. There might be chances of ambiguities in the analysis of data. Data may not be fully reliable as it is also secondry in nature. Best afforts were made to consider all important variables of the study.chances of some of the variable not appearing in the study is also not ruled out.

UNIT-3

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 1. Please specify the bank of which you are a credit cardholder

BANK SBI PNB UTI ICICI HDFC

Number of Respondents 20 20 20 20 20

%age 20 20 20 20 20

% a g e o f R e s p o n d e n ts

20

20

SB I PNB UTI

20 20

20

IC IC I H DFC

Interpretation:

Survey is done on the customers of all these banks by taking twenty respondents from each bank. The banks have been selected on the basis of their market capitalization from higher to lower. Only one credit card is considered even if a respondent has more than one credit card.

2.

For how long are you using credit card?

Duration Less than 1 year 1-2 years 2-5 years More than 5 years Total

Number of Respondents %age of Respondents 39 39 40 15 6 100 40 15 6 100

40 35 30 25 %age of 20 Respondents 15 10 5 0 Less than 1 1-2 years year 2-5 years 39 40

15 6 More than 5 years

Duration

Interpretation: The above table shows that most of the respondents are having credit card from the duration less than two years as the trend of using credit card is increasing since the people are becoming aware about its benefits slowly.

3 Who persuade you to get the credit card?

Persuading Factors Friends Print Media Electronic Media Bank employees Total

Number of Responses 65 23 52 49 189

%age of Responses 34.45 12.16 27.51 25.92 100

P e rc e nta g e 40 30 % age of 20 Responses 10 0 3 4 .4 5 1 2 .1 6 2 7 .5 1 2 5 .9 2

F r ie nd sP r i nt M e d ile c tr o n i c B a nk Ea M e d i a e m p l o ye e s
P e r s u a d in g F a c to r s

Interpretation: The above data shows that friends are the most persuading factor while purchasing the credit card and apart from that electronic media because of its promotional schemes and bank employees persuade by having face to face interaction for the sale of credit card.

4.

For what purposes are you using credit card?

Purposes Shopping Petrol Traveling Any other Total

Number of Responses 94 33 43 7 177

%age of Responses 53.12 18.64 24.29 3.95 100

60 50 40 % age of 30 R esponses 20 10 0

53.12

18.64

24.29 3.95

Shopping

Petrol

Travelling

Any other

Purposes

Interpretation: The above table clearly shows that the main motive for having the credit cards is shopping as credit card is accepted in all stores from grocery to big shopping malls. Other purposes for using credit card are traveling and fuelling of vehicles.

5.

Is the bank working towards satisfying your needs and expectations?

Options Yes No Total

Number of Respondents 71 29 100

%age of Respondents 71 29 100

71 80 60
%age of 40 Re sponde nts

29

20 0 Yes
O ptions

No

Interpretation: Most of the respondents said that the bank is working towards managing their needs and expectations but still there is a lot of scope for improvement from the side of bank while taking care of needs and expectations of customers.

5(a).

If, yes then by which method?

Methods Face to Face interaction Through seminar Through postage Customer care Centre Total

Number of Responses 54 20 24 33 131

%age of Responses 41.22 15.26 18.33 25.19 100

50 40 % age o f 30 R e s p o n s e2s0 10 0

4 1 .2 2 2 5 .1 9 1 5 .2 6 1 8 .3 3

F a c e to F a ceT hro ugh intera ctio n se mina r

T hro ugh C usto mer p o sta ge ca re C e ntre

M e th o d s

Interpretation: Most of the banks try to satisfy the needs and expectations through face to face interaction by bank employees though word of mouth is the most effective way to satisfy the customers and there personal needs.

6.

How much efforts are made by your bank to know your expectations?

Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total

Number of respondents 8 7 10 8 20 19 14 8 4 2 100

Total 8 14 30 32 100 114 98 64 36 20 516

Mean

Rating * Number of respondents Total Respondents 516 100 = 5.16

Interpretation: The above data shows that most of the respondents banks are not making enough effort to work according to the respondents expectations thats why most of the respondents rating lies in the middle of the scale so there is space for improvement for banks keeping this factor in view.

7.

Do you face any problem regarding credit card as compared to the standards?

Options Yes No Total

Number of Respondents 82 18 100

%age of Respondents 82 18 100

82 100 80
%a g e o f 6 0 R e sp o n d e n ts 0 4

18

20 0 Yes
O p tio n s

No

Interpretation: Due to high gap in standards of the service and actual service given, most of the respondents agree that they face problems what is earlier told to them and what eventually is provided.

7 (a)

If yes, what type of problems do you face while dealing with your bank?

Type of Problems Hidden Charges Long processing time. Documentation. lack of proper interaction Total
%age of Responses 42.33

Number of Responses 69 34 28 32 163

%age of Responses 42.33 20.85 17.17 19.65 100

oc um en ta tio n.

ha rg es

tim

pr oc es si ng

id de n

on g

Type of Problems

Interpretation: Hidden charges is the major problem for most of the respondents, most of the banks charges high as compare to what earlier told to their customers.

la ck

of

pr op er

in te ra ct

io n

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

20.85

17.17

19.65

e.

8.

Can you recall any advertisement of your credit card and what was the message?

Options Yes No Total

Number of Respondents 100 0 100

%age of Respondents 100 0 100

1 00 1 00 80 %a g e o f 60 R e sp o n d e n ts 40 20 0

0 Y es O p tio n s No

Interpretation: Every respondent is aware of the advertisement of their credit card because at the time of issue or purchase of credit card they are influenced by the electronic media or pamphlets of the credit card showing various features of the credit card. Most of them said that the message was about cash bags and various facilities given by them.

9.

Are you getting the same benefits or information as given in the message? Options Yes No Total Number of Respondents 26 74 100 %age of Respondents 26 74 100

74 80 60 %a g e o f 4 R e sp o n d e n ts 0 20 0 Y es O p tio n s 26

No

Interpretation: Almost three fourth of the respondents agree that what actual benefits or information are shown in the advertisement, do not get it finally. So there is complete mismatch between the services shown and actually given

10.

Do you think your bank provides all the facilities promised at the time of issuing credit card?

Options Yes No Total

Number of Respondents 32 68 100

%age of Respondents 32 68 100

68 80 60 %age of 40 Respondents 20 0 Yes Options 32

No

Interpretation: Two third of the respondents said that they are not getting the facilities promised like full details, prompt service, reasonable charges, up to date equipments and proper interaction by employees at the time of issuing credit card.

11.

In how many major commercial establishments, your credit card services are available?

Options All Many Fewer Very Less Total

Number of Respondents 15 51 17 17 100

%age of Respondents 15 51 17 17 100

60 50 40 % age of 30 Res pondents 20 10 0

51

15

17

17

A ll

M any

Fewer

Very Les s

Options

Interpretation: The above table and graph shows that for most of the credit cards, credit card facility is acceptable at most of the commercial establishments but in some cases there is a problem of wider acceptability of credit cards.

12.

How quickly does your bank respond regarding cancellation or reissue if the credit card is lost? Service Very Quick Quick Fair Slow Very Slow Total Number of Respondents 10 20 46 12 12 100 %age of Respondents 10 20 46 12 12 100

50 40 %a g e o f 3 0 R e s p o n de n ts0 2 10 0

46 20 10 12 12

Very Q uic k Fair Q uick S e rvi c e

Slo w

Ve ry Slo w

Interpretation: For most of the people, the service appears to be fair in case of cancellation or reissue of credit card if the credit card is lost, the major reason behind that is there can be chances of misuse of credit card in a big way.

13.

Is your bank providing security against misuse of credit card in case of online transactions?

Options Yes No Total

Number of Respondents %age of Respondents 73 27 100 73 27 100

80 60 %a ge of 40 Re sp on d e n ts 20 0

73

27

Y es O p tio n s

No

Interpretation: The above figure shows that most of the respondents said that their bank is providing security against misuse of credit card which is spreading rapidly and police is taking serious actions to prevent this kind of misuse. So banks have to follow strict regulations in case of online transactions.

14.

What is the rate of interest charged monthly if time limit of payment exceeds? Options 1.5-2.0% 2.0-2.5% 2.51-3.0% Fixed charges + interest Total Number of Respondents 4 18 41 37 100 %age of Respondents 4 18 41 37 100

50 %age of Respondents 20 10 0 40 30

41 18 4 1.52.0% 2.02.5%

37

2.51Fixed 3.0% charges + interest

Interest Rate

Interpretation: In most of the cases, the interest rate is between around three percent or bank charges interest plus fixed amount in case of exceeding of time limit which comes out to be more than 36% annually which is very high. So there is a need of decrease in interest rate.

15.

Are you satisfied with the services provided by the bank?

Options Yes No Total

Number of Respondents 53 47 100

%age of Respondents 53 47 100

53 54
%age of Respondents

52 50 48 46 44 Yes
Options

47

No

Interpretation: As half of respondents is satisfied with the services provide and many are still not so there is a lot of scope for all the banks to improvise on there services like wide acceptability prompt service less interest rate and defined standard services.

1.

How should a bank satisfy customers needs and expectations?

Methods Marketing Research Upward Communication Relationship Feedback Total

Number of Respondents 45 10 32 13 100

%age of Respondents 45 10 32 13 100

%age of Respondents

50 40 30 20 10 0

45 32 10 13

Marketing Reaearch

Upward Communication

Relationship

Feedback

Methods

Interpretation: The above data shows that banks should stress on adequate marketing research and relationship focus to satisfy the credit card holders needs and expectations as through marketing research they would be able to know the expectation.

2.

How management of the needs and expectation can be done?

Options Good service design Defining standards Adequate training to employees Total

Number of Respondents 14 57 29 100

%age of Respondents 14 57 29 100

%age of Respondents

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

57 29 14

G o o d s e rvice d e s ig D e fin in g s ta n d a rd sAd e q u a te tra in in g to n e m p lo ye e s O p tions

Interpretation: As most of the respondents do not get the services what actually told to them earlier and they are also charged high so most of them are in the favour of defining the standards and also imparting good training to employees.

3.

What should be done to fill the gap between standard performance and actual performance? Options Proper interaction System and technology Human resources policies Other Total Number of Respondents 41 32 19 8 100 %age of Respondents 41 32 19 8 100

50 %age of Respondents 40 30 20 10 0

41 32 19 8

P r o p e r in te ra c tio n

S y s te m a n d te c h n o lo g y

Hu m a n re s o u rc e s p o lic ie s

O th e r

O p t io n s

Interpretation: Most of the respondents assert on the proper interaction followed by system and technology which according to them is the major factor to fill the gap between standard performance and actual performance. Factors like human resource policies and other also constitute the minority.

What should be done to fill the gap between actual services given and the advertisement?

Options No over promising No ineffective management Penalties to the bank Ensure performance levels Total

Number of Respondents 19 18 55 8 100

%age of Respondents 19 18 55 8 100

%age of Respondents

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

55

19

18 8

N o o ve r p ro m is in g N o in e ffe c tive P e n a ltie s to th e b aE k s u re p e rfo rm a n c e nn m anagem ent le ve ls O p ti o n s

Interpretation: Most of the respondents agreed on the viewpoint of penalties should be charged to bank for not fulfilling the promises. Some of them are in the favour of no over promising and no ineffective management of customers expectations.

5.

How the discrepancies between customers expectations and their perceptions on the

service delivered can be removed? Options Personal needs Prompt service Communication Trained workforce Total Number of Respondents 41 24 23 12 100 %age of Respondents 41 24 23 12 100

%age of Respondents

50 40 30 20 10 0

41 24 23 12

P e rs o n a l n e e d s P ro m p t s e rvic e

C o m m u n ic a t io n T ra in e d w o rk fo rc e

O p ti o n s

Interpretation: Respondents in majority believe that bank should take care of the personal need of the customers followed by the prompt service issue, communication with the customer about the services. Some respondents emphasis the need of the trained workforce inside the organisation too.

6.

How customers can be made more satisfied? Options Surveys Personal interaction Customer care centre No hidden charges Total Number of Respondents 22 19 22 37 100 %age of Respondents 22 19 22 37 100

40 %age of Respondents 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Surveys Personal interaction Customer care centre No hidden charges 22 19 22 37

Options

Interpretation: Maximum respondents assert on the no hidden charge concept which is charged by almost every financial institution. There is also an equal need of surveys, customer care centre and personal interaction according to the respondents.

SERVQUAL Analysis: & Interpretation Tangibility factors (From E1-E4): Total of Ranks Ranks 1* 2* 3* 4* 5* 6* 7* Total E1 0 0 2 21 24 25 28 100 Total 0 0 6 84 120 150 196 556 E2 1 6 9 20 24 17 23 100 Total 1 12 27 80 120 102 161 503 E3 0 4 5 25 22 24 20 100 Total 0 8 15 100 110 144 140 517 E4 1 10 7 18 21 25 18 100 Total 1 20 21 72 105 150 126 495

Tangibility (E1 to E4) E1. They should have up-to-date equipment. E2. Their physical facilities should be visually appealing. E3. Their employees should be well dressed and appear neat E4. The appearance of the physical facilities of these firms should be in keeping with the type of services provided. Total

Total 556 503 517 495

Mean 556/100 = 5.56 503/100 = 5.03 517/100 = 5.17 495/100 = 4.95

2067

2071/400 = 5.17

Interpretation: The above table shows that almost every statement or factors of tangibility have equal importance for respondents because mean for all the statements is almost same as they give equal importance that banks should have up to date equipment and appealing physical facility and stress on well dress employees also physical facilities of the services provided. So overall mean for tangibility factor is 5..17 that shows respondents are moving toward strongly agree point with all these statements so all these factors should be taken care of. But the most important statement on which they strongly agree that bank should have upto date equipment. Reliability factors (From E5-E9): Total of Ranks Ranks 1* 2* 3* 4* 5* 6* 7* Total E5 0 1 4 19 25 26 25 100 Total 0 2 12 76 125 156 175 546 E6 0 5 4 20 24 26 21 100 Total 0 10 12 80 120 156 147 525 E7 0 3 9 22 24 24 18 100 Total 0 6 27 88 120 144 126 511 E8 0 5 5 18 23 24 25 100 Total 0 10 15 72 115 144 175 531 E9 2 3 4 13 33 22 23 100 Total 2 6 12 52 165 132 161 530

Reliability (E5 to E9) E5. When these firms promise to do something by a certain time, they should do so. E6. When customers have problems, these firms should be sympathetic and reassuring. E7. These firms should be dependable. E8. They should provide their services at the time they promise to do so. E9. They should keep their records accurately. Total Interpretation:

Total 546 525 511 531 530 2651

Mean 546/100 = 5.46 525/100 = 5.25 511/100 = 5.11 530/100 = 5.39 530/100 = 5.30 2643/500 = 5.28

The above data shows that overall respondents put stress almost on each factor equally of reliability. They are keener that firm should do fulfill their promises on time as this is most important factor of reliability and firm should reassure while solving their problems. They also put stress on accurate records so that they should get proper information. Overall each and every statement of reliability given above should be given special care to enhance their performance. The overall mean of all the reliability factor comes out to be 5.3 which shows that respondents are strongly agree on all the statement of reliability and most important statement is that bank should provide services on time. Responsiveness factors (From E10-E13): Total of Ranks Ranks 1* 2* 3* 4* 5* 6* 7* Total E10 13 31 23 18 11 4 0 100 Total 13 62 69 72 55 24 0 295 E11 13 27 17 25 13 4 1 100 Total 13 54 51 100 65 24 7 314 E12 18 30 22 13 14 3 0 100 Total 18 60 66 52 70 18 0 284 E13 12 27 20 17 16 4 4 100 Total 12 54 60 68 80 24 28 326

Responsiveness (items E10 to E13) E10. They shouldn't be expected to tell customers exactly when services will he performed. E11. It is not realistic for customers to expect prompt service from employees of these firms. E12. The employees dont always have to be willing to help customers. E13. It is okay if they are too busy to respond customer requests promptly. Total Interpretation:

Total 295 314 284 326 1219

Mean 295/100 = 2.95 314/100 = 3.14 284/100 = 2.84 326/100 = 3.26 1219/400 = 3.04

The above data shows that customers have given ranks on the lower side of scale. This means their weight is more on the strongly disagree point. Specially if the employees are not

willing to help customers, they are also strongly disagree on this statement and other statement like whether they should not expect from the bank about when the services will be performed. The overall mean of responsiveness factor comes out to be 3.04 which shows most of the respondents are not agreed with the above statements and out of these statements most important statement for them on strongly disagree point is that employees are not willing to help customers. Assurance factors (From E14-E17): Total of Ranks Ranks 1* 2* 3* 4* 5* 6* 7* Total E14 0 4 8 18 32 21 17 100 Total 0 8 24 72 160 126 119 509 E15 0 0 1 15 26 30 28 100 Total 0 0 3 60 130 180 196 569 E16 0 0 0 4 23 35 38 100 Total 0 0 0 16 115 210 266 607 E17 1 1 1 6 27 32 32 100 Total 1 2 3 24 135 192 224 581

Assurance ( E14 to E17) E14. Customers should be able to trust employees of these firms. E15. Customers should be able to feel safe in their transactions with these firms employees. E16. Their employees should be polite. E17. Their employees should get adequate support from these firms to do their jobs well. Total

Total 509

Mean 509/100 = 5.09

569

569/100 = 5.69

607 581

607/100 = 6.07 581/100 = 5.81

2262

2266/400 = 5.66

Interpretation: The above table shows that respondents are moving towards strongly agree point they like to have facilities like politeness of the employees, safe transactions and trust of employees.

The overall mean is 5.66which is on the higher side of the scale and most important agreed point for respondents are that employees should be polite. Empathy factors (From E18-E22): Total of Ranks Ranks 1* 2* 3* 4* 5* 6* 7* Total E18 16 29 17 19 13 5 1 100 Total 16 58 51 76 65 30 7 303 E19 40 28 13 13 6 0 0 100 Total 40 56 39 52 30 0 0 217 E20 35 35 16 12 1 1 0 100 Total 35 70 48 48 5 6 0 212 E21 30 38 12 13 5 1 1 100 Total 30 76 36 52 25 6 7 232 E22 42 31 15 8 2 2 0 100 Total 42 62 45 32 10 12 0 203

Empathy (items E18 to E22) E18. These firms should not be expected to give customers individual attention. E19. Employees of these firms cannot be expected to give customers personal attention. E20. It is un realistic to expect employees' to know what the needs of their customers are. E21. It is unrealistic to expect these firms to have their customers best interest at heart. E22. They shouldn't be expected to have operating hours convenient to all their customers. Total Interpretation:

Total 303 217 212 232 203 1166

Mean 303/100 = 3.03 217/100 = 2.17 212/100 = 2.12 232/100 = 2.32 203/100 = 2.03 1167/500 = 2.33

The above table shows that respondents have given lower ranks to almost every statement of empathy factor. They are strongly disagree for not giving individual attention, personal attention and they are also strongly disagree on not knowing that what are customers needs. Overall mean is 2.33 that is the sign of strongly disagree on all the statements by the respondents and most important statement from strongly disagree point of view for respondent is the expectation of convenient hours for all the customers.

FINDINGS For most of the credit card holders are having credit card from less than two years that shows the awareness about credit cards is increasing in India. Friends, bank employees and electronic media are the main persuading factors for having the credit card. Most of the banks are not making enough efforts for satisfying credit card holders needs and expectation. The biggest problem credit card holders are facing is hidden charges and most of them are not getting the same facility promise at the time of issuing credit cards. Interest rate for late payment of outstanding dues varies between 2% to 3%. Credit card holders want that there should be set standard of services provided and adequate marketing research should be done to know their expectations. Penalties to the bank and proper interaction with the customers by the employees of the bank are the best way to fill up the gaps between actual and standard services provided. Customers need that banks should have proper upto date equipments and they should provide services on time and all factors of reliability are important for them. There is still lot of space for improvement because a lot of customers are not satisfied with the services banks provide them.

SUGGESTIONS 1. Stop using the credit card until the balance is paid in full. It is a loan that must be repaid. 2. Don't throw away your receipts until you compare them to your statement. Review your monthly statement for accuracy. 3. Use credit card to withdraw cash only in emergencies. You have to pay cash advance fee at the rate of 2 to 2.5% besides the regular interest rate of 3%. 4. Number of credit card in the name of an individual should be limited. 5. Conditions for eligibility should be relaxed. and improvement in wide acceptability should be their. 6. If you are withdrawing money using credit card from some other bank's ATM, then the cash advance fee will be much more than usual. With this, your free credit period also ends and interest meter starts from the day one. 7. Don't ignore a credit card bill. Pay on time without any delay. Sometimes late fees are as high as 30-40% of the outstanding amount. You become a defaulter if you don't pay consecutively twice. The company can block your further transactions.

8. Sometimes customers pay the minimum payment and opt for credit revolving facility. You are a loser in that case. You lose on the 50-day credit period. If you don't pay on time, whatever you buy next time on the credit card, interest will be charged on the purchases from day one.

CONCLUSION As there is a huge potential in Indian credit card industry so there is a need to create awareness among Indian public about credit cards. Though consumer base for the credit cards in India is continuously increasing but most of them are still not satisfied with the services provided to them. The major reasons for that high interest rates and second lot of hidden charges Interest rates are very high in India as compared to rest of the world which should be cut down to some extent. Credit card issuers have not been able to know the expectations of the customers. Apart from this credit card holders are not getting the same benefits and facilities as shown to them at the time of issuing credit card to them means there is difference between standard and actual services given. So there is a need for improvement to solve these problems. For this purpose, adequate research, defining standards for services and proper interaction with customers is the best way. Customers can be more satisfied by not charging any hidden charges and to solve this problem there is a need that government should build some regulation and impose some penalties to the banks in these cases. There should also be protection against misuse of credit cards. The credit cards issuers should make enough efforts to satisfy needs and expectations of credit cards. In India, large number banks are providing the services of credit cards and a lot of customers are attracting towards but the need of time is that there should not be any gap between standard services and services actually given to satisfy the customers.

Bibliography: Daniel Levine (1994) Levine D. (Aug, 1994) Issue of Indias business opportunities Mehta V (1998) http://www.indiainfoline.com/pefi/crca/glos.html Vijayshankar N (1998) www.naavi.com/creditcards Credit card & management consultancy (CCMC, 2000) www.capitalmarket.com/personalfinance/cc (Visa International, 2003) Average Indian cardholder uses http://www.foolonahill.com/adhsbc.html (HSBC, 2003) http://www.foolonahill.com/adhsbc.html (Oikos, 2004) http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.00301299.2004.13159.x? cookieSet=1&journalCode=oik (J Y Umranikar .2006). http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Enterprise/Security/Online_credit_card_fraud_A_growing_reality _/articleshow/2076513.cms (Sarbajeet K. Sen.2006) http://www.blonnet.com/2006/01/27/stories/2006012702030600.htm

(Economic Times, 2006) http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Money_Matters/Credit_Cards/News/India_3rd_biggest_ma rket_for_Visa_in_Asia_Pacific/articleshow/1655708.cm (Vyas Mohan 2007) http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=72c74fa4-22bf-464a-9e237862481c586b# (Financial Express 2007) http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=163028 (Mehta 2007) http://www.moneycontrol.com/mccode/news/article/news_article.php?autono=279352 (Indiainfoline 2007) http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/innernews.asp?storyId=32776&lmn=1&cat=25 Book: Kothari, C.R.2005, Research Methodology ; Methods and techniques, New Delhi New Age International. Magazines : Business world, Personal finance, pg 56 Business today, Personal finance, pg 166 Newspapers: (The Hindu Jan27, 2006) India is shining for Visa

(Economic Times, June17, 2006), India: The third biggest card market for Visa. (Hindustan Times April 18, 2007), It is better to go to bed without supper than rise in debt. (Financial Express May 3, 2007) Credit card holders in India, pay the highest rates of interest

http://www.answers.com/topic/charge-card http://www.corporate.visa.com/md/st/main.jsp?src=home http://home3.americanexpress.com/corp/default.asp?us_nu=footer http://www.jcbusa.com/about_jcb.html www.moneycontrol.com http://www.hsbc.co.in/1/2/personal/credit-cards www.online.citibank.co.in/.../seo/cards/credit-cards.htm http://myiris.com/cards/cardArt.php?cardartno=5#2 http://www.icicibank.com/ http://www.icicibank.com/pfsuser/aboutus/overview/overview.htm http://www.hdfcbank.com http://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/cards/default.htm http://www.pnbindia.com/# http://www.pnbindia.com/credit_about.htm http://www.pnbindia.com/creditcard.htm http://www.utibank.com/ http://www.utibank.com/personal/cards/cards.asp http://www.sbicard.com/sbi/creditcards.jsp?CID=5&Lid=1&Ctype=CC

http://www.mastercard.com/in/personal/en/education/ch

oosing_a_card.html

Journals: Parasuraman, Valarie A. Zeithaml, Leonard L. Berry Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 41-50 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-2429(198523)49%3A4%3C41%3AACMOSQ%3E2.0.CO %3B2-V#abstract Servqual, Ziethaml Parasuraman Berry, 12 manage Rigor and relevance in management. http://www.12manage.com/methods_zeithaml_servqual.html Chapter 6, Business Firms, Social Agenceies and the Market Place (Ziethaml, Parasuraman & Berry1986, 1988) SERVICE QUALITY, SERVQUAL

Questionnaire 1. a) SBI 2 Please specify the bank of which you are a credit cardholder b) PNB c) UTI d) ICICI e) HDFC

For how long are you using credit card? a) Less than 1 year b) 1-2 years c) 2-5 years d) More than5 years

Who persuade you to get the credit card? a) Friends b) Print Media c) Electronic Media d) Bank Employees

For what purposes are you using credit card? a) Shopping c) Traveling b) Petrol d) Any other (Please Specify)...

5 a) Yes

Is the bank working towards satisfying your needs and expectations? b) No

If ,yes then by which method? a) Face to face interaction c) Through postage 6 b) Through seminar d) Customer care centre

How much efforts are made by your bank to know your expectations? High------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Low 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Do you face any problem regarding credit card as compared to the standards? a) Yes b) No

If yes, what type of problems do you face while dealing with your bank? a) Hidden Charges b) Long processing time. c) Documentation. d) Lack of proper interaction with customer

Can you recall any advertisement of your credit card and what was the message? a) Yes ______________________________ b) No

9 a) Yes 10

Are you getting the same benefits or information as given in the message? b) No

Do you think your bank provides all the facilities promised at the time of issuing credit card? a) Yes b) No

If no, which facilities _____________________________________________ 11 In how many major commercial establishments, your credit card services are available? a) All 12 b) Many c) Fewer d) Very Less

How quickly does your bank respond regarding cancellation or reissue if the credit card is lost? a) Very Quick b) Quick c) Fair d) Slow e) Very slow

13

Is your bank providing security against misuse of credit card in case of online transactions? a) Yes b) No

14

What is the rate of interest charged monthly if time limit of payment exceeds? a) 1.5-2.0% c) 2.51-3.0% 15 a) Yes b) 2.0-2.5% d) Fixed charges + interest _____________

Are you satisfied with the services provided by the bank? b) No Name ____________________ ____________________ Occupation ____________________ Phone No. ____________________

Address ____________________

Questionnaire II 1. How should a bank satisfy customers needs and expectations? (tick any of the one) a) Adequate marketing research orientation. b) Stress on upwards communication. c) Sufficient relationship focus. d) Through feedback form through existing customers. 2 How management of the needs and expectation can be done? a) Good service design b) Defining standards for customer services c) Adequate training to employees. 3. What should be done to fill the gap between standard performance and actual performance? a) Proper interaction with customers c) Good Human resources policies b) Appropriate system and technology d) any other (Please specify)______________ 4. What should be done to fill the gap between actual services given and the advertisement? a) No over promising b) No ineffective management of customers expectation c) Penalties to the bank for not fulfilling promises d) Ensure performance levels with marketing promises 5. How the discrepancies between customers expectations and their perceptions on the service delivered can be removed? a) Taking care of personal needs c) Precise communication with customers 6. How customers can be made more satisfied? a) Surveys c) Customer care centre b) Personal interaction d) No hidden charges b) Prompt service d) Trained workforce

SERVICE QUALITY: SERVQUAL Expectations If you strongly agree that the bank should possess the feature then rank the number 7. If you strongly disagree that the bank should possess the feature then rank the number 1. If your feelings are not strong then rank the number in the middle. Rank the statements between 1 to 7. Tangibility (E1 to E4) E1. They should have up-to-date equipment. E2. Their physical facilities should be visually appealing. E3. Their employees should be well dressed and appear neat E4. The appearance of the physical facilities of these firms should be in keeping with the type of services provided. Reliability (E5 to E9) E5. When these firms promise to do something by a certain time, they should do so. E6. When customers have problems, these firms should be sympathetic and reassuring. E7. These firms should be dependable. E8. They should provide their services at the time they promise to do so. E9. They should keep their records accurately. Responsiveness (items E10 to E13) E10. They shouldn't be expected to tell customers exactly when services will he performed. E11. It is not realistic for customers to expect prompt service from employees of these firms. E12. The employees dont always have to be willing to help customers. E13. It is okay if they are too busy to respond customer requests promptly. Assurance ( E14 to E17) E14. Customers should be able to trust employees of these firms. E15. Customers should be able to feel safe in their transactions with these firms employees. E16. Their employees should be polite. E17. Their employees should get adequate support from these firms to do their jobs well. Empathy (items E18 to E22)

E18. These firms should not be expected to give customers individual attention. E19. Employees of these firms cannot be expected to give customers personal attention. E20. It is un realistic to expect employees' to know what the needs of their customers are. E21. It is unrealistic to expect these firms to have their customers best interest at heart. E22. They shouldn't be expected to have operating hours convenient to all their customers.

________________________________________________________________ 7 (Strongly Agree) 6 5 4 (Neutral) 3 2 1 (Strongly Disagree)