# Chaos & Confusion: The Timeless Saga of Indian Banks

Remember the [**Office Office**](https://www.youtube.com/@officeoffice2508/videos), the **Pankaj Kapur** starrer magnum opus sitcom, aired on SAB TV in **2001**?

In every episode, he’d visit a government office for his work, which as a result would turn out more pathetic than he’d have even anticipated! Amidst the spotless portrayal by Mr. Kapur, we had always grabbed some good dinner table laughs.

[![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1711895514256/06fe16bb-6b56-4922-a8d8-00402f228efa.jpeg align="center")](https://static.theprint.in/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Office-office-Brandma.jpg)

The sitcom was written on the premises of a ***pre-smartphone era*** in the **early 2000s’** and hasn’t failed to have an **extension** of its footsteps even to this modern world, where technologies & efficiencies are the everyday talks of the town.

### **Knock! Knock!! Cut to the Present, it’s 2023!**

Here I’m standing in a **cluttered** Office Space, which people fondly refer to as **banks**, trying to figure out who could resolve my plea!

In the era of the digital economy, only a **dejected** customer would land at a place like this, when some of the banking activities can’t be addressed online, for reasons known only to God!

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1693980905081/9168065f-b42a-4a6d-aaea-bb00fccd5599.png align="center")

***“Good Morning, Madam! I need to activate my card.”*** I proceeded with showing the text SMS received from the bank to the lady at the counter.

***“Ahh…!”*** she exclaimed with a blank facial expression, possibly wondering, why I’ve even come on a scorching **Saturday** morning!

***“Can this be done here, Mishra Ji?”*** She yelled at the staff on the side table!

Mishra Ji, in the mid of examining the KYC document of a customer, ***“Yeah, Madam! The policy got an update recently, and the customer needs a bank visit for this purpose!”***

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1711895724037/1903b37c-d911-4782-89b2-76a705ba2ad4.jpeg align="center")

It took her a few more minutes to practice something **mysterious** on her monitor screen while breaking the silence with ***“Show me your ID Proof”***. I presented it without any delay & to add to my surprise, I was pushed to visit Mishra Ji’s table!

Well! Mishra Ji has got the ultimate **chill** while taking my case & looking at the lady again to probe if he really has to deal with all this! The **relay race** continued soon, just after a few seconds of examining my documents!

***“Sir! Please meet that lady at that corner, who deals with this. I’ve initiated it from my side, she should be able to complete it”***

%[https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExOGM1Z2ZjbWg1MDE0b2xmYzg4eWx3bjU0NjJsNGhsN3B3eHRmdXo4bCZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/glqdZPHSpcMNTbhCxs/giphy.gif] 

Finally, the baton rested on the hand of **Minakshi** Ji, who didn’t take much longer to tell me, ***“It seems like, your card is blocked”*** and she was about to suggest me to visit **another (4th in this case) person.** I clearly mentioned her that, I had already been referred by two more persons here & she was the 3rd one!

I **wasn’t** there for any athletic race in the compound, I guess!

***“Ohh!! Mishra Ji referred for this case! Wait a moment!”*** She responded.

The drama continued for a while and finally, she was able to figure out her **core competency** for which she was hired and addressed the issue!

### But Bro! This is how Banks work. Don’t you know that!

Though it might appear like a simple case of a demanding customer, it reminds me how snail-paced and erratic the banking system even **today** is!

The **single window** by definition is **a system where all facilities are available in one place.**

I was pondering, what’s the point then, **if it’s taking 3 human resources to figure out a simple task!** The former co-founder and MD of the Indian fintech company BharatPe, Mr. **Ashneer Grover** has commented on a **similar** scenario:

[![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1725807434705/bd87c855-e83b-40a7-a824-f53481fad478.png align="center")](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FdVwZEk4yEQ)

As a customer, while visiting a financial **institution**, where someone keeps faith with the life’s earnings, it’s obvious to expect the highest quality experience. But, amidst all the adaption to digital literacy, you’ll find **banks miserably struggling to keep their workforces relevant!**

It appears like banks at times push you to **visit the branch** just to make you realize, **they also exist somewhere** around the street!

Even large public sector banks' mobile apps **fail to serve at frequent occasions**! You’ll need a galactic intelligence to figure out what even they do with all our money, and all the resources at their helm!

### The Case of Inefficient Workforce

The Entrepreneur Ecosystem star **Kunal Shah** (Founder, CRED) explains it well:

[![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1711895897185/31e2ac3b-574a-40c3-8071-24b4214f948f.jpeg align="center")](https://twitter.com/kunalb11/status/1142731255001296897?lang=en)

What could be the classic case they could hold in defense, is it the **knowledge**? Absolutely Not! It’s a Central bank regulated environment, with hardly any scope to think beyond the line.

If you would list out the **collective financial wisdom**\*(based on an exhaustive list of repeated questions they encounter in a month)\* of those 3 human beings and feed that to a **database** & make it function as a **chatbot** with the power to follow instruction, their jobs might not even exist at the first place!

Banks need to move on from their slow-lethargic way of functioning. **Being glued to a monitor screen** and **actually solving customer problems** are two separate realities.

%[https://media.giphy.com/media/bMdZu3fG2ZEBO/giphy.gif] 

Their popular games of **Come on next Monday** or the **overrated lunch breaks** make me have pity on the masses, who accept the things they’re given without having the **audacity** even to ask for a **good service against their money!**

What an unfortunate scenario to witness contrary to the argument that the **Customer is King!**

Just imagine the conditions of such institutions, where silly things would drag to 3–4 persons, then think about the situations of the folks who’ve to access other **critical services** from banks like loans and financial assistance.

%[https://giphy.com/gifs/future-back-meets-NxWk4NY7C59Fm] 

When a common person is going out at these places, she’s at the mercy of God, literally! This appears as a classic case of the wastage of human efforts, where less valuable tasks are getting entertained & those eventually add up to the systematic failures of an institution.

**Neobank culture**, which has started having its footsteps in India, might be the way of the future with the **complete digital setup**, where a large sector of people who value their time won’t have to deal with petty issues in person.

P.S:

In the end, I wanna clarify, that I don’t generalize here. **There exists a group of hardworking elite performers in every professional calling**.

This needs to be transformed with time, because the **Banks need to win, to ensure a robust economy.**