On 07/08/07, Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 8/7/2007 2:06 PM, Binand Sethumadhavan wrote: > > > The government has been largely ineffective in controlling monopolies > > in India - probably because in most industries, the biggest players > > are government-owned at the moment (Telecom - BSNL, Banking - SBI, > > Insurance - LIC etc.). The "watchdog" organisations setup by the > > These are known for poor customer service but certainly not for shafting > the customer (well, not to all that much of an extent) > > Private players like ICICI on the other hand ..
Those were examples of state-controlled monopolies and the reason I feel watchdog organisations are ineffective in India. Though there are no end of anecdotal evidence of them shafting customers (especially SBI, and more so their credit cards division). Like the time I went to SBI, Besant Nagar branch and tried to open a PPF account on my son's name... I was told that "minors cannot hold PPF accounts" (though they apparently can if the guardian/parent opens a FD with SBI). Binand
