India, May 20: EY India today released its latest report, Customer Experience Reimagined The New Frontier for Indian Banking in 2026, revealing that customer experience (CX) is emerging as the defining competitive factor in India’s banking sector. Based on a survey of 2,030 banking customers across diverse demographics, the report highlights how banks must move beyond products and pricing to deliver seamless, personalized, and trustworthy customer experiences.
The report identifies seven major customer personas shaping the future of Indian banking: aspiring strivers, rising professionals, middle-age entrepreneurs, mass-affluent urbanites, rural core customers, golden transitioners, and empowered urban women.
According to the survey, branch banking continues to play a significant role despite growing digital adoption. While only 9% of aspiring strivers frequently visit branches, these locations remain essential for KYC updates and documentation. Branch engagement is higher among rising professionals, middle-age entrepreneurs, and rural customers, particularly for cash transactions, deposits, withdrawals, and account services.
Commenting on the findings, Pratik Shah said,
“Banks that excel in customer experience can unlock opportunities for cross-selling and upselling while differentiating themselves in an increasingly competitive market. However, banks must balance automation with human interaction, overcome legacy system constraints, scale personalization, and maintain stringent data privacy standards.”
Aarthy Rangarajan added,
“Indian customers today expect seamless, fast, and transparent banking interactions. Digital-first players and FinTech companies have redefined convenience, making customer experience a necessity rather than a luxury. The report shows that only 25% of customers rate their overall banking experience as excellent, highlighting a significant opportunity for banks to prioritize CX strategically.”
The report also revealed strong trends in digital onboarding and mobile banking adoption. Around 88% of surveyed customers found account opening convenient, though younger customers cited lengthy processes and excessive documentation as key pain points. Mobile banking satisfaction remained high across most customer segments, particularly among mass-affluent urbanites and professionals.
AI-powered banking solutions are also gaining traction, with nearly half of rising professionals and entrepreneurs prioritizing AI-driven financial advice, automated savings tools, and budgeting support. However, the report noted that many customers still prefer human interaction over chatbots, especially among older customer groups.
To help banks address evolving customer expectations, EY India introduced the “EXCEL” framework for CX transformation, focused on five pillars: Empathy, eXecution, Convenience, Empowerment, and Listening. The framework is designed to help banks strengthen customer loyalty and improve long-term engagement across diverse user groups.
The survey covered customers across urban, semi-urban, semi-rural, and rural regions, representing a broad cross-section of age groups, occupations, income levels, and banking preferences across India.