Q1. Critically analyse the service positioning of SBI Kohinoor banjara branch.

How does it differ

conceptually from service delivery design for a typical branch of a bank?

As per the article on typology of decoupling, this branch has low level of back office-front office de-
coupling and strategic operational focus is service to the consumer. This leaves it in the top left
quadrant of personal service. Evidently enough, SBI Kohinoor did provide highly personalized
services to its UHNI customers.

SBI Kohinoor Banjara branch was born out of SBIs motto of being a universal bank and by desire to
serve every segment of population. And also due to increase in India’s UHNI population. Multiple
such factors helped the conceptualization of premium banking ward of SBI.

Since it was a completely different ballgame than the usual SBI affairs, opening a separate branch
was a good decision. Since there were many existing competitors present in the industry, SBI had to
offer differentiated offerings to capture market share. Added to this was the perception about SBI
being a bank of every Indian.

To beat these odds, significant differentiation and superior offering was required. Also, fortunately
due to recession, SBI got the land at half the rate which significantly reduced the overall project cost.
And the recession also helped by increasing public confidence on the national bank like SBI.

Scalability issue: many factors came together to make the pilot, a successful one. This might not be
the case for expansion in other Tier-1 cities.

Regional Dependency: Success also depended on Hyderabad’s cultural values. Also for example,
lounge was named Nizam lounge which might not be possible to be replicated in other cities. This
would bring variation in the services and design of the branch.

Highlights of difference between a typical bank branch and SBI Kohinoor:

 Specially trained Personal Banker for every customer (40:1 Banker to customer ratio)
 Doorstep services (pick & drop of cheques etc)
 Extended working hours (7 days a week and extended daily working hours)
 Premium lounge, coffee bar, other infrastructure and aesthetics
 Quick services
 Special products designed for UHNIs
 Stringent Customer selection criteria (Invitations only)
 Location of the branch (Privacy, Parking facility, Upmarket)