All over the world, and more so in India, and even more so in Delhi, people are screaming for change and expressing it through the ballots. But in the real world, change does not happen so far. Though the prices of several commodities have dipped, inflation is refusing to sink like lead. Corruption has perhaps paused, but it is far from disappeared. Growth is inching up, though people wanted a sprint. For the first time ever, politicians and political parties are being tossed around like
never before by the electorate.The expansion of media, tied together with elections, has made way for rapid sentiment changes. Sentiment changes are coming like tsunami rather than waves. But the ways of the real world are still designed for modest changes. Whether it is starting mining operations or building a bridge or changing duties and taxes….everything happens slowly in the real world.BFSI organizations are caught in the middle. On one hand, their customers want changes at the speed of lightening. If RBI makes a rate cut, customers want it reflected in their EMIs the same day. And yet that is not practical in the real world, because banks’ rates depend upon several other factors. But sentiment does not stand on the pillars of logic or reality.
Banks particularly need to have sentiment monitoring and management systems because sentiment is one of the pillars of public trust in a particular bank and in the banking system in general. If customers start tossing banks like they have started tossing political parties….everyone will face much higher levels of economic volatility…which is obviously not desirable.
Lesson from the Delhi elections: Customer sentiments can change a David into a Goliath and vice versa within a very short time. It is a risk for the Goliaths and an opportunity for the Davids.
