Sharp increase in credit applications: CIBIL

The demand for loans for various products including home and auto loans from banks and other financial institutions in India has shown a sharp increase of 150 percent since 2010, according credit information agency CIBIL.

The spurt in loan-seeking showed an increased demand for credit and a bounce back by lending instititions in disbursals after the 2008 downturn, according to Harshala Chandorkar, senior vice-president, Credit Information Bureau India Ltd (CIBIL). As India's largest credit information company, CIBIL has 930 credit institutions as its members and maintained information on over 290 million consmer trades and 14 million commercial, Chandorkar said.

In Kerala's case, auto loans (35 percent) and two-wheelers (32 percent) were the most availed form of credit compared to the national average, she said. However, the state had a very low penetration of credit cards and personal loans, which showed that this segment remaind largely untapped, she said.

Holding that CIBIL TransUnion score had been widely used by banks and financial instituitions in the country for credit decision, she said the score assigned to a borrwer ranged from 300 to 900. The higher an applicant's credit score, greater the chances of the loan application getting cleared.

In Kerala, 21 percent of borrowers had a credit score of 800 and above and 40 percent had a score of 750 and above. The usage of score by banks and credit institutions resulted in reduction in delinquencies over the past three years, especially in the case of home, auto and personal loans, Chandorkar added.