Green Banking Practices and Empirical Analysis of Influencing Factors with Reference to Gujarat

The importance of Green Banking cannot be denied since it is a key practice that facilitates both the process of environmental sustainability in the financial sphere and the process of improving performance along with customer satisfaction. Financial organizations in the contemporary world should minimize their environmental footprint, make efforts toward sustainable investments, and offer the most appropriate financial services including digital banking options as a way to decrease the use of paper and lower down emissions. This research work focuses on the issues of adoption of green banking practices and identifies factors that influence this process in Gujarat, which is one of the most industrially developed regions in India. The primary data in this study were obtained from questionnaires sent to customers of banks in both public and private sectors operating in the state. The analysis was dedicated to awareness, adoption, customer perceptions, environmental concerns, digital readiness, and influence of green banking initiatives on customer satisfaction. Results show that digital banking services such as mobile and Internet banking along with e-statements are quite popular because of ease-of-use and availability. Still, there is much room left for improvement concerning more sophisticated types of green financial services such as green loans, green investments, or environment-related services. Awareness of advanced services is also rather low in this case. The study proves the positive correlation between green banking activities and customer satisfaction.