CIBIL

The seeds for the requirement of a credit information bureau were sown in the Credit Information Companies (regulation) act, 2005.  The Reserve Bank of India came out with regulatory framework for functioning of credit information bureaus in India 

Among the various credit bureaus in India, Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited (CIBIL) has the distinction of being the first entrant. It came into exied by CIBIL to prepare Credit Information Report of individuals and corporate entities. These credit information reports are provided to member lending institutions to evaluate and approve loan applications. Today, checking credit information report has become an inevitable step in the loan application process. Lenders prefer to lend money to borrowers with credit score of 700 and higher. Individuals too can ask for their credit information report from CIBIL by paying a small fee. The credit score of individuals through the credit reports was made available to individual since April 2011. 

These reports serve as strong facts-validating documents for banks. Banks and other lending institutions can take an objective view of loan application and this brings down the time taken in approval of loans, which in turn benefits borrowers. To make its consumer report effective, CIBIL is planning to incorporate more payment information - payments towards telephone bills and insurance premium. This additional information should make a report more detailed and present a clear picture to lenders as regards an individual payment habits.

CIBIL is owned by TransUnion International Inc, three non banking finance companies (NBFC) and 10 commercial banks in India. Transunion caters to 500 million customers worldwide. It is an ISO 27001:2005 certified (compliant) organisation.