‘CIBIL FOR EVERY INDIAN’ Report Indicates Improved Credit Awareness Among Consumers Across India

A new report by TransUnion CIBIL titled “CIBIL FOR EVERY INDIAN” released recently provides a comprehensive insight into the credit behavior of self-monitoring consumers across India, including that the number of consumers monitoring their credit profile for the first time grew by 83% between October 2021 and September 2022.

83% growth in the number of consumers self-monitoring1 their credit profile between October 2021 and September 2022
Increased credit awareness seen in GenZ2 consumers with 2.9X growth seen in October 2021 to September 2022 compared to the previous 12 months
88% increase in self-monitoring women consumers recorded between October 2021 and September 2022 compared to the previous 12 months
96% increase in self-monitoring consumers in non-metro locations between October 2021 and September 2022, compared to a 58% increase in metro locations
68% of self-monitoring consumers own two or more active credit accounts, compared to 33% non-monitoring consumers that hold the same number of accounts

A new report by TransUnion CIBIL titled “CIBIL FOR EVERY INDIAN” released today provides a comprehensive insight into the credit behavior of self-monitoring consumers across India, including that the number of consumers monitoring their credit profile for the first time grew by 83% between October 2021 and September 2022. Since TransUnion CIBIL started its direct-to-consumer service in 2009, 61.1 million consumers have self-monitored their own credit profile. It also reveals that 23.8 million consumers registered for self-monitoring for the first time between October 2021 and September 2022, and that 71% (representing 16.8 million consumers) of this growth came from non-metro locations registering for the first time.

Commenting on the findings of the report, the Managing Director and CEO of TransUnion CIBIL, Mr. Rajesh Kumar, said, “With over 61.1 million self-monitoring1 consumers, we can see that Indians are beginning to take a more active role in monitoring their own credit information and understanding their credit health. The emergence of digitization, smartphones, and internet penetration into semi-urban and rural areas, have all improved access to credit exponentially.”

“The end consumer is the largest beneficiary of this evolution as the power is shifting to them as they are now able to access multiple financial opportunities at competitive terms, across the financial ecosystem. Improved consumer awareness bodes well for the market as it catalyzes competitive pricing of credit products and services by lenders, access to affordable credit opportunities for end consumers, and financial inclusion in the economy.” Mr. Kumar added.

The report shows that there has been a notable improvement in the ways Indians are monitoring their credit, especially those in non-metro locations who accounted for over 76% of the overall number of new-to-credit4 consumers between October 2021 and September 2022.

1Self-monitoring consumers are users who have proactively checked their CIBIL Score & Report at least once with TransUnion CIBIL. 2Gen Z are consumers born 1997 to 2012.

3Millennials are consumers born 1981 to 1996. 4New-to-credit – credit vintage up to 6 months

5CIBIL Score ranges from 300-900. Score tiers are: subprime = 300-680, near prime = 681-730, prime = 731-770, prime plus = 771-790, and super prime = 791-900.