A STUDY ON THE LEVEL OF CUSTOMER

AWARENESS ON THE USAGE OF DEBIT

CARDS

INTRODUCTION
Banks play an important role in the economic development
of the country. It is often said that banker is one who deals
with other people’s money. The term banking has been
uinderstood differently by different people at different times.

The main function of banks is to accept deposits from the

public and lend money to the public. The bank receives
deposits from the public and lend money to the public.

The bank receives deposits from the public by way of time

deposits and demand deposits. When deposits are received,
the bank should pay interest at the rate prescribed by the
RBI. Similarly the bank lends money to the public as loans.
When money is lended, the bank would receive interest at
the rate prescribed by the RBI.

Since the past couple of decades, banking sector has

evovled in such a way that it has surpassed its basic nature
and is almost a vital centre for all financial affairs that takes
place in an economy.
 In the current scenario it is impossible to find a person
without being a bank customer. And banks have become a
vital centre for almost any financial affair that takes place in
an economy. This has created an overloaded work for the
banks and the time incurred by the customers for availing
banking facilities has become vast. To avoid these time
wastages and for the ease of the customers, banks have
implemented many advancements. These advancement in
facilities has reduced the time incurred by customers for
availing the features of banks. One of such advancements is
the introduction of debit cards which is easy to avail and
access and is being utilised by almost 90% of the
customers.

And this study deals with to what extent the customers are
aware of the facilities implemented by banks i.e. debit cards
in specific.

CUSTOMR AWARENESS:

Customers are informed and remaindered about the

products and are requested and persuaded to purchase their
products. Such communication may be made their along the
product or well in advance of the introduction of product
into the
market. Such communication becomes necessary when a
new
product or service is introduced in the market or an old
product is
improved or it is simply to increase the sales of the
products.
“Awareness compasses all the tools in the marketing
mix whose major role is persuasive communications.”
PHILLIP KOTLER

The main features of awareness are:

1. Customers are informed about the product or services of

the company. Either at the time of introduction of a new
product into the market or when any change is made in the
existing product.

2. Customers are reminded of the products and services of

the
company.

3. Customers are requested or persuaded to purchase the

product and services of the company.

4. Awareness includes, advertising, personal selling and

other
sale promotion techniques.
Consumers must have awareness about the new products
and their usage. Such activities are performed by the
manufacturer. It is the responsibility of the producer to get
information about the consumers and prospective
consumers so
that the necessary product may be served to meet their
demands.
Subject matter companies must do more than make good
products they must inform consumers about the product
benefits
and carefully position products in customers mind. To do
this
must skillfully use the mass promotion tools like advertising,
sales promotion and public relations, personal selling,
publicity.
NEED FOR STUDY

The main objective of the study is to know the Customer

awareness with respect to Asian Paints.
The need for this can be explained if one knows the
importance of understanding the Customer awareness. So in
the following paragraph the Customer awareness and its
role in the success of an organization has been explained.
Customer awareness are taken up to boost the sales of a
product by the company. A company having production
capabilities may produce a product and price is according
and sell through the dealers and retailers by its distribution
network.
Considering the fact that consumer according to the time
need, want and the purchasing power, it depends on the
product, therefore, the marketers rely on the marketing mix
to cater to the customers efficiently and effectively.
So the companies producing the product, pricing and
planning them have to carefully look into the minds of the
consumers and place the products favorably in the minds of
the consumers.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:
 Customers mostly find it difficult to spare the time
during the business hours.
 Some respondents were not willing to give valuable
suggestions.
 The required information has been collected for an
effective period of one month.
 To study relies on secondary data sources and all
limitations which applicable to that of secondary data
are likely to have crept.
 The study is restricted to IOB in particular branch of
wall tax road in chennai
 The major constraint for the research was the project
duration which was 30 days. This was insufficient to
cover the various areas in time
 The branches of IOB was scattered and so it was
difficult to collect data.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

The study aims at evaluating the performances of Indian

overseas bank in relation to debit cards. It covers the
efficiency and attitude of customers towards the banking
services rendered by the Indian overseas bank in service
level. The main aim is to create effective awareness to the
consumers through the promotional activities done by the
bank.
OBJECTIVES

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

* To find out which factors has got influence on customer

awareness in banking Industry.
* To know the awareness level of “IOB” customers as well
as other customers.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

* To identify the customer requirements.

To analyze the customers perception regarding the
preference of debit cards
INDUSTRIAL PROFILE:

A bank is a financial intermediary that

accepts deposits and channels those deposits
into lending activities, either directly or through capital
markets. A bank connects customers with capital
deficits to customers with capital surpluses.

Banking is generally a highly regulated industry, and

government restrictions on financial activities by banks
have varied over time and location. The current set of
global bank capital standards are called Basel II. In
some countries such as Germany, banks have
historically owned major stakes in industrial
corporations while in other countries such as the United
States banks are prohibited from owning non-financial
companies. In Japan, banks are usually the nexus of a
cross-share holding entity known as thekeiretsu.

The oldest bank still in existence is Monte dei Paschi di

Siena, headquartered in Siena, Italy, which has been
operating continuously since 1472.
DEFINITION:

The definition of a bank varies from country to country.

See the relevant country page (below) for more
information.

Under English common law, a banker is defined as a

person who carries on the business of banking, which is
specified as, conducting current accounts for his
customers paying cheques drawn on him, and collecting
cheques for his customers.

In most English common law jurisdictions there is a Bills

of Exchange Act that codifies the law in relation
to negotiable instruments, including cheques, and this
Act contains a statutory definition of the
term banker: banker includes a body of persons,
whether incorporated or not, who carry on the business
of banking' (Section 2, Interpretation). Although this
definition seems circular, it is actually functional,
because it ensures that the legal basis for bank
transactions such as cheques does not depend on how
the bank is organized or regulated.

The business of banking is in many English common

law countries not defined by statute but by common law,
the definition above. In other English common law
jurisdictions there are statutory definitions of
the business of banking or banking business. When
looking at these definitions it is important to keep in
mind that they are defining the business of banking for
the purposes of the legislation, and not necessarily in
general. In particular, most of the definitions are from
legislation that has the purposes of entry regulating and
supervising banks rather than regulating the actual
business of banking. However, in many cases the
statutory definition closely mirrors the common law one.
Examples of statutory definitions:

"banking business" means the business of receiving

money on current or deposit account, paying and
collecting cheques drawn by or paid in by customers,
the making of advances to customers, and includes such
other business as the Authority may prescribe for the
purposes of this Act; (Banking Act (Singapore), Section
2, Interpretation).

"banking business" means the business of either or both

of the following:

receiving from the general public money on current,

deposit, savings or other similar account repayable on
demand or within less than [3 months] ... or with a
period of call or notice of less than that period; paying or
collecting cheques drawn by or paid in by customers [8]

Since the advent of EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer

at Point Of Sale), direct credit, direct debit and internet
banking, the cheque has lost its primacy in most
banking systems as a payment instrument. This has led
legal theorists to suggest that the cheque based
definition should be broadened to include financial
institutions that conduct current accounts for
customers and enable customers to pay and be paid by
third parties, even if they do not pay and collect
cheques.

STRANDARD ACTIVITIES:

Banks act as payment agents by conducting checking or

current accounts for customers, paying cheques drawn
by customers on the bank, and collecting cheques
deposited to customers' current accounts. Banks also
enable customer payments via other payment methods
such as telegraphic transfer, EFTPOS, and ATM.

Banks borrow money by accepting funds deposited on

current accounts, by accepting term deposits, and by
issuing debt securities such as banknotes and bonds.
Banks lend money by making advances to customers on
current accounts, by making installment loans, and by
investing in marketable debt securities and other forms
of money lending.
Banks provide almost all payment services, and a bank
account is considered indispensable by most
businesses, individuals and governments. Non-banks
that provide payment services such as remittance
companies are not normally considered an adequate
substitute for having a bank account.

Banks borrow most funds from households and non-

financial businesses, and lend most funds to households
and non-financial businesses, but non-bank lenders
provide a significant and in many cases adequate
substitute for bank loans, and money market funds, cash
management trusts and other non-bank financial
institutions in many cases provide an adequate
substitute to banks for lending savings to.
PROFILE OF INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK:

INTRODUCTION

IOB is leading bank in Chennai, India.

Established in 1937, it had the distinction of
simultaneously commencing operation in three branches
in karaikudi, Chennai and yangon (myanmar). IOB aimed
to encourage overseas in banking and foreign exchange
operations, it soon opened its branches in penang and
singapore. Today, INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK boasts of a
vast domain in banking sector with over 1400 domestic
branches and 6 branches overseas.

INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK was the first bank to venture

into consumer credit, as it introduced the popular
personal loan scheme. In 1964 , the bank started
computerization in areas of inter branch reconciliation
and provident fund accounts.

INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK was one of the 14 major

banks which were nationalized in 1969. After
nationalization, the bank emphasized on opening its
branches in rural parts of India.

In 1979, INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK opened a foreign

currency banking unit in the free trade zone in Colombo.

In the year 2000, INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK undertook

an initial public offering that brought the government’s
share in the bank’s equity down to 75%. The equity
shares of IOB are listed in the Madras stock
exchange(regional), Bombay stock exchange, and
national stock exchange of india ltd, Mumbai. Since its
exception, IOB has absorbed various banks including the
latest- bharat overseas bank in 2007.

The bank’s IT department has developed software,

which is used by its1200 branches to provide online
banking to its customers. INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK also
has a network of about 500 ATMs throughout india. Its
international VISA debit card is accepted at all ATMs
belonging to the cash tree and NFS networks. INDIAN
OVERSEAS BANK is one of the banks that the
government of india has approved for online payment of
taxes.

INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK offers investment options

like mutual funds and shares. It provides a wide range of
consumer and commercial banking services , including
savings account, current account, depository services,
VISA cards, credit cards, debit cards, online banking,
any branch banking, home loans, NRI accounts,
agricultural loans, payment of bills or taxes, provident
fund schemes, foreign exchange collection services,
retail loans etc.
HISTORY IF INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK

In 1973, INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK was founded

on 10th February, and had the distinction of three
branches, at Chennai, karaikudi and Rangoon
simultaneously commencing business on the
inaugural day. The founder chairman was M.CT.
CHIDAMBARAM CHETTIYAR.

During 1969 INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK was

nationalized, the bank had 208 branches and
business mix of Rs.156 crores.

In 1990 the bank of Tamil Nadu was merged

with the bank. The bank has launched credit card
in tie up arrangement with pan card.

In 1995 the bank signed on july 26, a MOU with

the three Regional Rural Bank (RRBS) sponsored
by it viz,

Puri gramya bank (in orissa)

Pandya grama bank( in tamil nadu)

Dhenkanal grama bank (in orissa).

Under the MOU, the RRBS committed themselves
to achieve targets under various business
parameters for turning within a span of five years.

In 1988 MS.P.Bolina, deputy secretary, ministry

of finance was appointed director of the bank
with effect from September 4, in the place of