During the pre-LPG (Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization) era, banks performed all their functions manually, with little support from computers. As their services were labor-intensive, banks had to bear heavy establishment costs. This eroded their profitability, as well productivity, rendering them incompetent in the global market. With the wave of LPG, banks computerized their operations, resulting in reduced paperwork, burden of accounts maintenance and hence, improved database management. With the introduction of the IT Act, banking has undergone an electronic revolution, known as e-banking. E-banking has enabled banks to compete in the global market with attractive and innovative products and services. Since the e-banking system has become a necessity of the current market forces, the move of the public sector banks to step up towards the same has become a matter of survival. This paper is an attempt to ascertain the perceptions of as many as 60 e-bank employees about the e-banking services provided to the customers in urban Punjab.

Till the 1990's, the Indian banking system was a monopoly of the government, which limited the growth of banking in terms of profitability and productivity. But, the dawn of economic liberalization in 1991, has triggered reforms in the banking sector, introducing effective strategies to reduce government monopoly, while improving the working of the banks. In 1993-94, the RBI allowed the entry of private sector and foreign banks into the banking industry, leading to greater competition and enhanced performance with the aid of technology advancements. This has forced the public sector banks to provide prompt and reliable customer services along with a variety of hi-tech banking products/services. However, the technological advancements have intensified competition to the extent that the survival of public sector banks has become an issue of major concern.