Banks

Walking down on the streets of Mumbai, one thing I did notice was that the number of bank locations had exploded. I could spot atleast 5-6 banks in a stretch of road less than a mile. These are retail banking outlets and not merely ATM centers offering personal bankers, cash counters, loan facilities etc.

I was in the US till a few weeks back and was constantly informed by varied news sources that the banks were in trouble. The confidence amongst banks was low, and they had accumulated a lot of bad debts (as different products). The market capitalization of the US banks had come down precipitously.

The sprawling vehicle friendly roads of the US, can explain the sparsely located banking outlets. In Mumbai, it is surely very convenient to have a bank just down the road, and one certainly doesn’t mind options in choosing which bank. However I do wonder in this world where more and more functions are moving online, how often does one really need to go to a retail banking location? Many times I answered, as I pushed two people in the crowded bank to reach my personal banker.

There is no denying the utility of having many-many-banks-and-all-next-door. However when a Bata outlet has to compete with banks for retail space, one can sense something is not quite right.