Retail credit sector growth on the rise: Cibil data

Cibil chairman MV Nair told a gathering, "The growth of retail loans at an average CAGR of 25 percent is largely contributed by the growth of property loans”

State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya has warned industry experts that safety of consumer-related data will be of utmost paramount as technology advanced further.

“As we become more dependent on technology, the safety of data will be paramount; the more security backed we become, people keen to breach it are a step ahead,” Bhattacharya said at the 8th annual credit information conference, organised jointly by Cibil [Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd] and TransUnion, a US-based credit information and analytics company.

She also urged credit scoring agencies to apply “Indian solutions” to meet consumer requirements. “India has varied consumers, with different scales of exposures, literacy and requirements,” she said. “Exact solutions of the West cannot apply here.”

Bhattacharya said data gathering will become a challenge for different agencies and banks, as the country shifts from a cash intensive economy to a complete electronic platform.  

According to SBI data, there were still 134 ‘dark spots’ in India, which had no connectivity with the rest of the world; others were ‘grey spots’ which had very poor connectivity. “Grey spots are a challenge for electronic-based channels to record transactions,” she said.

Cibil, the country’s leading credit information company, said India was witnessing sustained growth in the retail credit sector, based on data released during the conference.

“The growth of retail loans at an average CAGR of 25 percent is largely contributed by the growth of property loans at 58 percent, personal loans at 31 percent and auto loans at 30 percent. Forward looking policies along with availability of credit information solutions has contributed to this propulsion in growth”, Cibil chairman MV Nair told the gathering earlier.

A Nomura report released this week said bank credit growth in India has risen, despite ongoing concerns regarding asset quality surrounding India’s banking sector.  

“The latest data (February 19, 2016) shows bank credit growth rising to 11.6 percent year-on-year from a low of 9.0 percent in October 2015 with the credit offtake by both industry (textiles, metals, and infrastructure) and services picking up,” the Nomura report said.