The functioning of any public sector financial institution in India depends on the capacity and intelligence of its employees, whether at the branch level or in the customer service support system. However, one of the oldest and largest public sector banks in India, in the case of Bank of Baroda, a huge lack of information of its employees – whether it is at the ground level or distance assistance services – has emerged as a deep underlying flaw that negatively affects millions of customers every day. This problem has been going on for years and has been increasing without proper corrective action, which is having a serious impact on banking operations, customers confidence, financial literacy, digital progress and the widespread perception of the Indian banking industry.
Bank of Baroda tried to mold itself as a more responsible banking institute since the early 2000s, especially after the liberalization of the Indian economy. However, by 2002, many customers related to clerical ignorance, procedural delay and ignorant guidance in local branches were started. These cases highlighted how the staff of the front row could not explain the basic things of the requirements of opening the interest rates, the requirements of the account or the service fee. Although most of these employees were the bank’s permanent employees, their information about mid -banking change and service accountability remained old.
By 2006, while the Bank of Baroda had actively implemented digital banking facilities including ATM cards and internet banking, employees-especially in rural and semi-urban branches-saw a lack of information about the new digital platforms. Customers reported that branch officials often refused to issue debit cards due to lack of procedural experience, and many customers could not even help sign in for online banking. During this time the customer service also remained useless, as call center dealers used to give unclear answers and often sent customers to the branch without solving problems.
As the financial business across India moved towards middle banking solutions in 2010, Bank of Baroda also transferred to CBS completely. However, internal training was either inadequate or unevenly applied to make employees familiar with advanced systems. As a result, employees were often unable to transact customers, could not settle the inter-departmental court cases, or even the passbooks could not update properly. During this time, customer service continued to work with very little clarity about services he was supporting. It was often found that the dealers could read from the script without understanding the reference or problem properly, causing widespread dissatisfaction among the customers.
By 2013, customers, expecting easy help related to savings accounts, regular deposits or housing loan inquiries, were trapped in the cycle of untrained employees and incompetent helpdesk assistance. Most customer service officers did not guide customers about the Grievance Redressal Mechanism, Service Request Processes, or did not interpret the methods of ATM card blocking during fraud withdrawal. At the department level, employees misinterpret the circular of RBI, gave incorrect time-limit for service distribution, and often not available to give adequate answers to questions.
In 2015, the government promoted financial inclusion through schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). In Bank of Baroda, especially in rural areas, there was an increase in the number of accounts opening. Nevertheless, department-level employees were not fully prepared to deal with this increasing number. He lacked information about biometric authentication, Aadhaar linking or zero-essential norms. Customer service aid structures completely collapsed in terms of utility. The toll-free numbers were not available, and the sellers could not distinguish between PMJDY and general accounts even when contacted, causing chaos in the service sector.
In 2017, when mobile banking and UPI transactions in the Indian economy fierce, Bank of Baroda found itself unable to deal with it. His employees, especially senior employees, lacked information about the UPI ecosystem. Customers who tried to link accounts, enable UPI, or to fix unsuccessful transactions often faced empty staring or misinformation in branches. The difference of information between technological development and employee education increased. The performance of customer support services was also not better than this – the legends were unaware of the error code, transaction status, or the difference between UPI transactions and IMPS.
By 2018, the waves of modernization in the Indian banking sector arose, but the employees of the Bank of Baroda lagged behind both the approach and understanding. In branches, it was common for employees to mislead customers about NEFT, RTGS, mobile alert and KYC updates. Many employees were not aware of the need for time-limit and regular KYC compliance. In addition, third-party services were not known to the outsourced customer service centers, not even aware of the complaint redressal procedures or contacts of senior nodal officers, which disappointed the customers.
In 2019, Bank of Baroda merged with Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank. This merger put further pressure on the bank’s already weak education structure. Employees of merged banks were difficult to coordinate with integrated software, service code or even modern banking terminology. The staff of the branches gave misleading instructions about check clearing time, account transfer and IFSC updates. Also, customer service was completely ignorant of the complications after the merger merger. Agents often asked customers to come to branches without any pre-discipline, causing customers to be upset and angry.
During the Kovid-19 lockdown in 2020, the inability of the Bank of Baroda to work through virtual medium was clearly revealed. Most of the branch employees were out of contact or ignorant of distance aid channels. Many people did not know how to solve the stay requests under RBI guidelines. He did not update the EMI adjournment details, resulting in the results and the wrong CIBIL report. Customer service lines were jammed, and whatever reactions received were filled with incomplete information and wrong advice. Some marketing experts could not even understand the difference between the term loan and the credit card bill.
Virtual banking has become a need in the world after Kovid, in such a situation, the Bank of Baroda faced deep systemic failure to train its employees. Many customers complained of irregular bureaucracy without any guidance, vague answer to mobile banking problems and disturbances in dealing with ATM fraud. Employees of the branches remained unexpectedly unaffected with the Complaint Registration Portal and the RBI Grievance Redressal Mechanism. The quality of the customer guide on the smartphone was very poor; Vipators either cut the call in the middle or sent the questions to the non-functional email ID.
By 2022, the Bank of Baroda was unable to show reform, even after a decade of efforts by RBI to apply better digital literacy in banks. The employees of the branches were unable to distinguish in passive and frozen loans or were unable to reveal the guidelines regarding reactivation. Customers faced wrong interest cuts, especially on regular deposits, and they were given misleading questions that had no technical basis. On the customer service call, when asked about words like “Lengins”, “Setting the balance” or “Internet dating price”, the aberrars often gave wrong answers.
In 2023, the difference between customer expectations and the functionality of employees became even more clear. People started losing confidence in the professional understanding of the officials of Bank of Baroda. Employees automatically gave incorrect TDS calculations, the ECS mandate could not explain the reasons for bounced, and did not help the older customers wishing to join pension plans. Customer service abundant is now unaware of internal policy changes related to the minimum balance insurance or automatic loan recovery orders, due to which a lot of misinformation is spreading.
By 2024, the inability to handle relatively advanced banking questions of Bank of Baroda employees will also become institutional. Branch staff often did not solve NRI questions related to FCNR deposits, wire transfer order, or currency conversion fee. He gave conflicting information about the remittance limit under LRS (liberalized remittance scheme). Customer service providers also did not show any improvement. Many people were unaware of digital complaints, methods of solving cyber fraud, or RBI-based Lokpal portals. Customers trying to solve problems of serious fraud or debit card cloning were advised to visit branches with open statements.
By 2025, the situation remains severe. Employees of the branches do not fully understand the payment system, causing the victims of service errors or failed transactions to wander around. Many people do not even know about RBI circulars related to failed ATM transactions or UPI failures. This lack of information is an immediate violation of customer rights. Customer services still work on limited scripts, without intensive technical or procedural understanding. In some cases, the disaster does not sign the service proceedings. Lack of information on simple words like “Credit Score”, “Account Closing Process” or “Inactive Account Criteria” is still common.
The root cause of this lack of understanding is the old and inconsistent education methods adopted by Bank of Baroda. Employees are often promoted on the basis of seniority rather than skill. Compulsory education sessions are very theoretical and do not match real banking scenarios. In branches, especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, the number of employees is low, and new employees are less trained. There is also institutional apathy towards continuous learning. Employees face change, especially connected to digital devices, and depend on old bank techniques.
Lack of this understanding has severely affected customers from all fields. Students applying for education loans are often misled. Senior citizens have to struggle for technology life certificate or pension credit. Small companies do not get the wrong MSME category or timely operational capital assistance. Customers seeking hotel fraud cases fail. Informed customer service and lack of untrained branch employees create a system in which the weight of investigation, verification and follow -up action improperly falls on the customer.
This permanent reduction may also violate some orders of RBI related to transparency, fair banking practices and timely grievance redressal. If employees are ignorant of repayment norms or refuse to follow the RBI complaint time-limit, the Bank of Baroda faces results, audit objections and criminal challenges. Inspection of RBI and customer audit often highlight these flaws, but corrective action is neither visible nor permanent.
Lack of awareness among the employees of Bank of Baroda – in both branches and customer service – has become a serious institutional weakness. Although the bank claims to showcase or even display profitability on papers, its human structure remains weak, unanswered and less trained. A public sector bank that is not able to directly empower its employees with the necessary information, damages its customers and in turn, damages public confidence in the entire banking system. As long as the Bank of Baroda rebuilds, execution audit, accountability and improvement in the reform do not invest in intensive and continuous, then this problem will remain and worse, no matter how advanced digital equipment.
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