Customer experience is emerging as a defining factor in Indian banking, according to a new EY India study, which says lenders can no longer rely on products and pricing alone as points of distinction.
The report, titled “Customer Experience Reimagined: The New Frontier for Indian Banking in 2026”, is based on responses from 2,030 bank customers across a range of demographic groups. It says service interactions now carry greater weight in how banks are assessed by customers.
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The study profiled customers into seven personas – aspiring strivers, rising professionals, middle-age entrepreneurs, mass-affluent urbanites, rural core, golden transitioner, and the empowered urban woman.
Dependence on branches remains uneven across segments.
Just 9% of aspiring strives said they go to branches regularly, though these outlets still serve a role for KYC-related work and paperwork.
Branch use is higher among rising professionals, at 33% in rural locations and 37% in urban ones.
Among middle-aged entrepreneurs, branch activity is more pronounced, with 68% using them for cash handling and 65% for account-related matters.
EY found that 52% of mass-affluent urbanites still depend heavily on branches. In the rural core segment, 56% said they visit for deposits and withdrawals.
Urban golden transitioners recorded 34% branch usage, while around 45% of empowered women said they use branches frequently.
On account opening, 88% of those surveyed said the process was convenient. However, experiences differ by segment.
Aspiring strivers reported the lowest ease of onboarding at 68%, pointing to branch visits they saw as unnecessary, long procedures and high documentation demands. Rising Professionals recorded 89% on this measure, though around half had changed products during the past year.
Mobile banking received positive ratings from 74% of aspiring strivers and rising professionals, who described the experience as excellent or good.
The report notes that chatbots are still used less often and attract lower trust levels despite broader adoption of mobile banking. It says this leaves scope for better conversational AI with stronger emotional awareness.
Most customer groups said their bank has a reasonable understanding of their financial needs.
EY said 74% of rising professionals and 79% of middle-age entrepreneurs believe their bank offers products suited to their lifestyles and spending behaviour.
To reflect these differences, the report outlines the EXCEL framework, which groups customer experience into five areas: Empathy, eXecution, Convenience, Empowerment and Listening.
According to EY, the model is intended to be used across seven customer personas.
