[greenhorn]

and for the love of god, please dont put your money in an SBI account. I've seen grass grow faster. Applied for an educational loan, despite jumping through all the hoops they put up, two months later, still no loan. Wouldnt even grant me a short term personal loan to cover for it.
Had my Second term payments coming up, and desperate, went to ICICI with nothing but my ICICI debit card and my passport as ID proof. Walked out with 1.25L in less than an hour, just a few percentage points more than the SBI loan rate.

I used to think SBI was the great indian bank, and ICICI was a sleazy new age bank, but as per the 'friend in need' principle, my money's going to my ICICI account, thank you very much

[Deep Blue]

I am one of the few rare unabashed ICICI bank fanboys. I have had my stipend and then salary account with them for the last 14yrs and not had any problem whatsoever. Their netbanking is the best and most mature I have experienced compared with SBI and Corporation bank.I also have ICICI credit cards and ICICI direct as my demat and have had no problems till now.
I sincerely thank K V Kamath for turning ICICI bank into what it is now and in the process give the PSU banks such a solid kick in their bottoms, dislodging them from their slumber.
I feel he has single handedly changed the concept of atleast retail banking if not banking itself for the average "middle class"Indian.
Among the PSU banks, I prefer Corporation bank.
By far my worst experiences have been with SBI.

[buntydey]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue

I am one of the few rare unabashed ICICI bank fanboys. I have had my stipend and then salary account with them for the last 14yrs and not had any problem whatsoever. Their netbanking is the best and most mature I have experienced compared with SBI and Corporation bank.I also have ICICI credit cards and ICICI direct as my demat and have had no problems till now.
I sincerely thank K V Kamath for turning ICICI bank into what it is now and in the process give the PSU banks such a solid kick in their bottoms, dislodging them from their slumber.
I feel he has single handedly changed the concept of atleast retail banking if not banking itself for the average "middle class"Indian.
Among the PSU banks, I prefer Corporation bank.
By far my worst experiences have been with SBI.

I second this. Till now, I feel ICICI has one of the best online interface among Indian banks; though the facilities offered are way behind those that are offered in US. But then, you really cant compare them. Indian online banking has improved a lot in the past few years, but it still has miles to go.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

I need to open (another) bank account. I already have an a/c with the State Bank branch, so, all state bank and group banks are out of question.

I was looking forward to my current second banker - Canara Bank going full fledged online. But, right now, they have informed me that I need to install some software on to my computer to enable on-line transactions. Unfortunately, their software is windows based; and I cannot change my Operating System for this purpose.

The criteria -

1. This will NOT be my primary account.
2. Only very few transactions, so just minimum cash balance will be maintained.
3. Debit / ATM card + net banking / online transaction must.
4. Cheque facility not required.
5. I am OK with minimum balance of, say 2-5K.
6. This is not a salary a/c - I am in government service, so I will have to go personally to the branch to deposit the cash.

Good branch presence in KL is a must.

My intention - once in a while, net / networks fail. And I want a fall back net banking option available when my state bank account is not accessible. (happens once in a while).

Couple of times I went to the nearest ICICI bank branch, the crowd was worse than the 8AM tatkal crowd at railway booking offices. Additionally, I feel their minimum 10K limit a bit too steep.

There is an HDFC branch couple of hundred meters from where I stay. But I am chary - what (c|w)ould be the costs of maintaining an account which will be operated only 2 - 3 times a year?

I am also looking at South Indian Bank / Federal Bank / Catholic Syrian Banks (because they have good presence all over Kerala). But, how good are their online facilities?

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

I need to open (another) bank account

I have had a good experience with IDBI Bank till about 4 years back, when I changed jobs and closed that a/c. I don't know what the minimum balance is these days, but their online banking portal was quite intuitive and user friendly to use. Since IDBI doesn't have that big a presence in KL, I guess the crowd also would be quite manageable.

Cheers,
Vikram

[sanagg1]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

I need to open (another) bank account. ..Debit / ATM card + net banking / online transaction must.

If ICICI scared you away by crowd, try any of these (nearest to you)

1-IDBI bank
2-Axis bank
3-HDFC bank
4-Bank of baroda

hope they satisfy your need

Cheers

[wildon]

Originally Posted by sanagg1

3-HDFC bank

When you open an account with them you also get the Online Banking user name and password. Changing password also very easy.

But, enabling other features like Third Party transfers etc are really a pain as you need to download the form, fill it up, attaching the ID proof and give it to the bank. Also they will ask the originals of the ID proof which is submitting.

[mayankjha1806]

In my experience i found HDFC, SBI and ICICI to be the best. I was doing banking with Citibank but don't do it anymore as i found them to be the worst of the lot.

On a side note i also feel ICICI and HDFC are better in terms of internet security as far as money transferring is concerned and the roadblocks if i want to get into someone else's account. How are they better would require a longish explanation of how secure their internal systems are in terms of PCI-DSS compliance.

[theexperthand]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

I need to open (another) bank account.

From my personal experiance, I will suggest either ING vysya or IDBI. ING vysya have a very good net banking interface and the process of adding\managing beneficiary and doing transfer is very simple. I am not sure about the presence of ING in Kerala, but the branches here are always less crowded and the employees are polite and always helpful. I am not sure about the minimum balance since I am operating my salary account.

With IDBI, the minimum balance is 5K, iirc. The online banking portal is good, and you get online banking password when you open the account and you do not have to visit the bank again for enabling third party transfer.

[download2live]

Stay away from HDFC.
I was forced into having one account from them cause they seem to have some tie ups with my employer.

What I hate:
1. Need to enable third party transfer? Please visit bank and fill forms.
2. Need to change cell number? Please visit bank and fill forms.
3. Need to transfer fund urgently to another account in some other bank? Oh ho..ha ha ha...Add the new account. IT WILL GET ADDED IN 24 HRS. If the person in need is still alive then you can transfer the funds.
4. Best one. A set of 5 questions. Yes Sir, 5 questions. Any one can be picked up randomly and presented to you when you are adding a payee (Not sure on which action it is asked). Now for a person who has difficulty remembering the password itself, remembering answers to 5 questions is a deal breaker.

5. Credit cards. Got one and want to cancel it? Please write letter(snail mail) to Chennai office.

Result. As soon as I get salary I transfer it off to other banks having a saner Netbanking.

[anujmishra]

I have opened account(non primary) in Punjab National Bank and for last 1.5 year I am satisfied customer for them. They have good polite staff, manager, internet banking, cheque, with less (Rs. 1000) minimum balance requirement, Debit Card (with per day 40K limit). What else I need?

They are good bank of India.

I do not like SBI cause amount of crowd and customer they have. With HDFC I have bitter experience, closed account in that.

These day banks like Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Allahabad bank etc. lure customers. These are really tighting their gears and becoming customer friendly.

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

In my experience i found HDFC, SBI and ICICI to be the best. I was doing banking with Citibank but don't do it anymore as i found them to be the worst of the lot.

On a side note i also feel ICICI and HDFC are better in terms of internet security as far as money transferring is concerned and the roadblocks if i want to get into someone else's account. How are they better would require a longish explanation of how secure their internal systems are in terms of PCI-DSS compliance.

My Choice of banks based on personal experience: ICICI, Axis Bank.

[Pallavi]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Couple of times I went to the nearest ICICI bank branch, the crowd was worse than the 8AM tatkal crowd at railway booking offices.

You dont need to visit their branch to open an account with ICICI. You can apply for the account online. Check ICICI bank home page for the link. If you dont want to apply online, call/email their customer care that you would like to open a savings account with them. They will send someone with the application form.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Pallavi - I need to put money into the a/c, no? THis is not a salary a/c. It is not always feasible to put money into my primary a/c and then transfer to this a/c.

And guys - one question - what about minimum balance, minimum number of transactions and "no-transaction" charges? Which are better ones here?

And yes - thanks for the IDBI suggestion. But, they have far too few branches. One they have at Ernakulam, but not sure about other district HQs.

It is a pain having to keep shifting banks and "home branch" for the primary a/c every few months. 2006 till date, I have gone through 8 transfers. As it is, getting salary is one man day's job for us. The "flow chart for cash flow" is like this - Treasury > Treasury savings bank account of the individual > Individual draws cash by cheque (usually through the peon in the office) > cash in individuals' hands.

And if I do not put the cash ASAP into some bank, it will be gone in a jiffy!!!

[rohan_iitr]

I have an account in Syndicate Bank. I have had pleasant experience with this bank.

Rohan