Many readers have posed Authentic Questions to Us being the leading publication on Credit Bureau and Card industry in India. One of the readers asked me – Can CIBIL data be used for marketing ? Does CIBIL produce some information reports ?
By law [Credit Information Companies Act, 2005 2006] neither CIBIL nor any other Credit Bureau operating in India cannot use their data repository for soliciting business or for marketing purposes.
However, CIBIL, based on its significant database, has been helping banks profile customers in several new geographies. For eg, if a bank wants to do retail business in a certain region, CIBIL can generate reports which give an overview of the customer profile in that region, the customer behavior etc. Many banks have been using this service from CIBIL.
Thus, CIBIL generates various insight and interpretation reports. For eg, many private banks have been tapping this insight to gain access into North-East India, hitherto the domain of PSU Banks.
Another Smart Question Posed by Ms Charu is – Can credit bureaus in India like CIBIL / Experian capture Mobile Bills, Telephone, Broadband Internet Bill Payment monthly records / Delays from Telecom companies and Insurance premium payment Records ?
The Indian Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, doesn’t allow the data of customers to be shared by Telecom companies. Again, even RBI doesn’t allow liabilities data to be captured. Globally too, regulators prohibit banks from capturing liabilities data. A credit bureau by definition can only capture credit related data. However, CIBIL has managed to tap some life insurance companies and plans to extend coverage.
Issues indeed are there when it comes to data sharing and data quality all of which have substantially improved over the past 2 years at CIBIL.