The essence of the information technology revolution and, in particular, the World Wide Web (www) is the opportunity to build better relationships with customers than has been previously possible in the offline world. CRM is a fundamental business of every enterprise and it requires a holistic strategy and process to make it successful. Relationship building with customers is now accepted as over-riding goal of marketing and of the business as a whole. In service industries, the goal is especially emphasized since a repeat customer is believed to cost merely a fraction of what needs to be spent in servicing a new customer in a service transaction. Indian banking industry has witnessed rapid development in recent past with the initiation of financial sector reforms. The thrust of financial sector reforms was to improve efficiency, competitiveness and productivity of the financial system. Entry of new generation private sector banks which provided technology aided services like Internet Banking, Mobile Banking and Inter Branch Network has electrified the banking environment in India and has added new dimensions to automation in Indian banking. Banking industry is undergoing tremendous changes; the focus is towards the customer service. The customer is aware of technology and the various service options. Due to these factors, there is heavy competition between banks. Increased competition in the market in the past few years propelled retail banks to focus greatly on maintaining and increasing their customer base while improving customer service quality. The present study concentrates on using CRM as a tool to classify the customers of the bank. The banks are facing lot of difficulties in acquiring new customers and in retaining the existing customers. As a result of the advancement of banking technology and computerization and networking of bank branches, the customers are becoming more and more dynamic and less loyal in their behaviour. The present study has made an earnest attempt to explore the usage of CRM for classification of customers.
