ICICI and I do not see eye to eye. Review on ICICI Bank

There have been rave reviews about product that I have criticised. Very often people have taken an opposite view than mine, only to come back later and acknowledge through M2M and comments that my stand prevails as their faith in the product they praised has been shaken once they discovered the truth. For eg: I was the first to bang the hype of Bangalore- way back in 2001. I was the first to ridicule the emperor has no clothes website- Baazee.com and I was among the original members who attempted to call the porno tabloid Times of India- just that- a pornographic daily dose in print.

Now I'm saying all this as today I am going to criticise another great Indian product that is worshiped, revered and praised by many Indians and ofcourse Mouthshut members. I remember in the old days of Mouthshut, there were too many positive reviews about this bank-ICICI Bank and then it was truly a revolution in Indian banking industry.

So where do I start? In the traditional Amrita style, I will start with the truth and the truth is the ICICI Bank cannot serve you and I anymore. Its branches are crowded, its staff has become incompetent and its ATMs resemble municipal water pipe queues in early morning Mumbai slums.

ICICI Bank's Branches:

They started with a good strategy. With Kamath as the CEO, ICICI executed his plans very well. Unlike the dominant government owned banks, ICICI's branches are located on the main commercial streets of cities and towns. These are well decorated, glass and steel type of buildings and very spacious (by Indian standards). Of late, ICICI has added more retail customers in proportion to its existing branch infrastructure.

The already overcrowded branches are now packed with people of all backgrounds and colour. So much that I have stopped visiting the branch and ask my older sister to help me in need.

ICICI Bank's Staff attitude:

In 1999, 2000 when they first started their retail expansion, the staff was young, enthusiastic and the ones who displayed a go-getter attitude. So kind, polite and suave were their male staff, that a feisty female like me could have easily been impressed with the attitude of few cute "men" who worked there and had I sucummbed to temptation, would have fallen in love with one of them;-)

NOT ANYMORE:ICICI staff is still 10% better than say Union Bank of India's babus but they are not as efficient as they used to be. A lot of ex- govt bankers have infiltrated ICICI working culture and with them they have brought their 'more excuses than work' attitude.

Account opening is a painstaking process for want of unwanted documents. Cheque clearance delay is more than normal. Small talk and ICICI staff? oh they're clueless. The babu culture is taking over the go-getter young attitude that once prevailed.

Branch managers are changed by the management far more frequently than the changing statements of Mallika Sherawat and her claims to be a sex-symbol.

By the time I learn to spell my branch manager's name, I learn that a new one has come in. Why cant branch managers stay for atleast 4-5 years?

ICICI has more than 2200 ATMs. By Indian banking standards its a big number, but by ICICI Customer figures, its too low. Most ATMs ALWAYS have a queue. ATM screen interface is user friendly but the network is often slow which kills the enthusiasm to withdraw your money and run. In Mumbai, I've had to wait as long as 16 minutes to withdraw MY OWN cash from ICICI.

Can we not have say 5000 ATMs? Can we not have high-speed network behind these ATMs.?

Can we ask those nosy security guys to stay away from the ATMs. Can we ask the guys who replenish the ATMs with cash to be bit more polite. Can we ask the bank staff to service the ATMs during late evening hours? Why at 6PM?

ICICI Bank senior staff:

I've not interacted with many, but the few that I have had discussions with are pompous, boast about ICICI's size (as if its going to help me change my attitude) and feel that they are doing you a favour by providing you banking service. Don't believe me? Call up their Headquarters are try getting in touch with anybody in there to resolve your problem.

Corporate Banking:

I haven't used much but friends in top companies tell me that ICICI lags far behind other banks. Infact till date they don't even provide an ATM card for corporate current accounts. Overdraft facility is a big-no-no etc.

Internet Banking:

The less said the better. Looks like it was designed by some prospective job applicant who was sitting at the corporate headquarters waiting to be interviewed. There is practically no utility in the online banking platform of ICICI. I feel its more to do with Infosys, whose platform runs ICICI online banking. And infosys we all know doesn't know end customers- they are more like technology wholesellers.

So moral of my review is:

Kamath (ICICI MD) and his original team did well. ICICI prospered. Their 8-8 banking service set a new benchmark in the industry BUT its grown too vast. Kamath is surrounded by people who do not present the true status of the crippling retail dissatisfaction (yeah right as if I believe your Market Research survey)!!!!

Kamath has become risk averse and has appointed people who've been around him for years, as heads of divisions. They do not have the same drive and enthusiasm as Kamath and hence the stagnation. The need of the hour is to expand infrastructure, bring in younger people in the top management (people in 30s and early 40s). and ofcourse until then, ICICI can be avoided.