55% Indian banking customers want improved digital support across the app, web and chatbot: EY report

Branch usage preference

Branch usage varies significantly across customer segments. While only 9% of aspiring strivers^[1] frequently visit branches—these locations remain important for tasks like KYC updates and documentation. Rising Professionals^[2] maintain substantial branch engagement, with 33% in rural, and 37% in urban areas. Middle-age Entrepreneurs^[3] show even higher branch usage, primarily for cash transactions (68%) and account services (65%). 52% mass-affluent urbanites^[4]rely heavily on branches. Among the rural core ^[5], 56% visit it for deposits or withdrawals. 34% of golden transitioners^[6] in urban areas use bank branches and among empowered women^[7], approximately 45% report frequent branch use.

Commenting on the insights Pratik Shah, National Financial Services Leader, EY India said, “Banks that excel in CX, can unlock opportunities for cross-selling and upselling, while differentiating themselves in a highly competitive market. However, delivering great CX is not without challenges. Banks must balance automation with human touch to maintain empathy, overcome legacy system constraints, scale personalization, and uphold stringent data privacy standards. The Reserve Bank of India’s recent emphasis on re-KYC completion reflects the sector’s increasing focus on seamless and efficient customer engagement.”

Adding to it, Aarthy Rangarajan, Partner – Financial Services, EY India said, “Indian customers today expect seamless, fast, and transparent banking interactions. Digital-first players and FinTechs have reset the benchmark for convenience, making CX in banking a necessity rather than a luxury. The report highlights a critical gap: only 25% of customers rate their overall banking experience as excellent, underscoring a significant opportunity for banks to reimagine CX as a strategic priority that drives loyalty and long-term engagement.”

Key findings from the report:

Onboarding convenience

As per the EY report, 88% of surveyed customers find account opening convenient, with variation across cohorts. Aspiring Strivers report lower onboarding convenience at 68%, citing unnecessary branch visits, lengthy processes, and excessive documentation. Rising Professionals experience higher onboarding convenience at 89%, however roughly half still switched products in the past year.

Middle-Age Entrepreneurs report 91% onboarding convenience, yet 54% switched savings accounts in the last year. Among mass-affluent urbanites only 49% could open accounts digitally without visiting a branch. In contrast, 84% of the rural core customers found the digital account opening process convenient.93% among golden transitioners and 94% women found account opening easy.

Mobile banking satisfaction

The EY report reveals that 74% Aspiring Strivers and Rising Professionals rate mobile banking experience as excellent or good. Middle-Age Entrepreneurs report 75% satisfaction, while Mass-Affluent Urbanites lead with 79%. Around a third of golden transitioners and rural core customers use mobile banking frequently, compared to 54% of women. Despite the relatively strong mobile adoption, chatbots remain underutilized and less trusted. This highlighted an opportunity for banks to improve conversational AI with greater emotional intelligence.

Personalization trends

Across segments, the EY report finds a majority of customers feel their banks understand their financial needs. For example, 74% of Rising Professionals and 79% of Middle-Age Entrepreneurs agree that their banks offer products aligned with their lifestyle and spending habits. Similarly, 76% of entrepreneurs and mass-affluent customers feel understood across life stages. Four in five golden transitioners feel their bank delivers personalization. However, 45% women demand better timing of offers, signalling lifecycle-sensitive personalization needs.

AI adoption

AI-driven personalization is gaining traction, with 49% of Rising Professionals and 51% of Entrepreneurs prioritizing smart digital tools such as AI-powered financial advice, automated savings, and budgeting support. 73% women are comfortable with AI powered assistants resolving banking queries. Rural customers are cautiously open to AI, whereas half of golden transitioners prefer speaking to a real person over AI.

The EXCEL framework: a blueprint for CX transformation

To address these diverse needs, the report introduces the EXCEL framework, which views exceptional CX through five lenses: Empathy, eXecution, Convenience, Empowerment, and Listening. Applying this framework across the seven customer personas allows banks to convert everyday interactions into meaningful, loyalty-driven relationships.

Research methodology:

This report is grounded in a survey of Indian banking customers, designed to capture a representative cross-section across age, gender, employment status, geography, education and income levels. The sample of 2030 Indian banking customers spans urban, semi-urban, semi-rural and rural areas, diverse occupational groups and multiple income brackets to ensure the findings reflect the experiences of both mainstream and niche customer segments.

Profiling the Modern Indian Banking Customer: Seven Strategic Personas

The research identifies seven distinct customer personas that collectively shape the Indian retail banking landscape. These personas reflect the diversity of India’s banking population and their unique expectations.

The youngest cohort, Aspiring Strivers, primarily students aged 18 to 24, are digital-first and highly price-sensitive.
Rising Professionals, young salaried individuals aged 18 to 35
Middle-Age Entrepreneurs, self-employed individuals and business owners aged 25 to 45
Mass-Affluent Urbanites, include high-net-worth individuals
The rural core (Rural and semi-rural middle- and low income) across age groups
The golden transitioner (Pre-retirement customers), aged 46-59
The empowered urban woman (Female working customers) aged 25-45

Download the full pdf

PDF (5 MB)

About EY

EY is building a better working world by creating new value for clients, people, society and the planet, while building trust in capital markets. Enabled by data, AI and advanced technology, EY teams help clients shape the future with confidence and develop answers for the most pressing issues of today and tomorrow. EY teams work across a full spectrum of services in assurance, consulting, tax, strategy and transactions. Fueled by sector insights, a globally connected, multi-disciplinary network and diverse ecosystem partners, EY teams can provide services in more than 150 countries and territories.

All in to shape the future with confidence.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com