CIBIL - History and Origin

History and Origin

The need of credit information system was increasingly felt in order to enable informed credit decisions and aid fact based risk management. It was also imperative to arrest accretion of fresh non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking system through an efficient system of credit information on borrowers as a first step in credit risk management. In this context, the requirement of an adequate, comprehensive and reliable information system on the borrowers through an efficient database system was keenly felt by the Reserve Bank of India Government as well as credit institutions. A Working Group with representatives from select public sector banks, IDBI, ICICI, Indian Banks' Association and Reserve Bank was constituted by the Reserve Bank in the year 1999, to explore the possibilities of setting up a Credit Information Bureau (CIB). The Working Group had recommended setting up a CIB under the Companies Act, 1956 with equity participation from commercial banks, FIs and NBFCs registered with the Reserve Bank. As per the recommendations made by the Working Group, Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd., (CIBIL) was set up in January 2000.

CIBIL was promoted by the State Bank of India, Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited, Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India Private Limited and Trans Union International Inc. In 2004, SBI and HDFC divested a part of their stake in CIBIL to other shareholders: leading banks and financial institutions in the country. The current shareholding pattern is as follows:

Credibility of the CiBIL is questionable due to poor record keeping.

TransUnion and Dun & Bradstreet are the technical and equity partners of CIBIL. TransUnion is one of the largest consumer credit bureaus in the world. Dun & Bradstreet is world’s leading source of commercial information and insights on businesses.