What is a Credit Bureau? List of Top 5 Credit Report Agencies in India

Last Updated : Feb. 10, 2025, 4:15 p.m.

A credit bureau is an agency that gathers and maintains data about an individual’s credit history and payment habits. Credit bureaus amass information about loans taken, credit card usage, overdraft facilities, etc. from banks, credit card issuing companies, and other financial institutions. Credit bureaus also collect information from bankruptcy court records and other sources. They then use this information to create credit reports and scores which can be viewed by lenders, employers, landlords, and insurers.

What are the Credit Bureaus in India?

The top credit bureaus in India are TransUnion CIBIL, CRIF High Mark, Experian, and Equifax. These credit bureaus play an important role in determining a person’s financial status. They help the lender make well-informed decisions regarding whether to sanction a loan or credit card, or other financial instruments to a borrower or not. Apart from distributing information, credit bureaus are primarily obligated for maintaining the accuracy of details in credit reports. If individuals find errors in the report given by a credit bureau, they can report the discrepancies to the credit bureau and get it rectified. So, they have the responsibility to conduct detailed investigations and correct any inaccuracies.

How Do Credit Bureaus Work?

• Collect data: Credit bureaus gather a set of credit related data from various sources. This includes data from lenders, banks, collection agencies, and public records. This information is related to a broad range of financial activities such as credit card usage and financial tools like loans and overdraft facilities.
  
• Maintenance: The collected data is stored in the credit bureau’s database, and it is updated regularly.
  
• Preparation of credit reports: Using the accumulated credit information, credit bureaus prepare detailed credit reports. From these reports, you can get a comprehensive picture of the credit history of an individual. A credit report is organized into distinct sections - Personal information, repayment history, credit utilization, and credit inquiries.

• Assigning credit scores: Another very important role of a credit bureau is to assign a three digit credit score using the information present in the credit reports. Credit scores are computed using parameters like repayment history, credit utilization ratio, credit mix, age of credit, etc.

• Providing credit reports to lenders: Credit reports and credit scores are provided to lenders, so that they can evaluate your creditworthiness before approving your credit card and loan applications.

• Resolution of Disputes: The primary responsibility of credit bureaus is to maintain accurate information in the credit report. This is because the information decides the financial fate of individuals. So, if there are errors in the credit report, consumers can report the error to the credit bureaus. They can then rectify the error.

Free CIBIL Score Check

List of Credit Bureaus - Features

TransUnion CIBIL

• TransUnion CIBIL is the most popular among credit bureaus in India
• It maintains a database of credit related information including credit histories, repayment behavior, and credit scores.
• By making an inquiry on your credit report and checking your credit scores, lenders will be able to understand how creditworthy you are. They can then decide whether to approve your credit application or not.
• TransUnion CIBIL also offers services like CIBIL Rank, which gives you a rank based on creditworthiness and CIBIL Market Insights, which offer analytical insights on credit trends.

Experian

• Experian is another reputed credit bureau operating in India.
• It gathers credit-related data from various financial institutions and compiles credit reports. Based on the information in the credit reports, credit scores are generated.
• Experian’s credit reports contain a thorough summary of the credit history of an individual. The credit score shows the creditworthiness of an individual.
• Experian also provides fraud-detection services, solutions for identity verification, and analytics to help businesses in handling credit risk.

Equifax

• Equifax is the third-largest credit report agency in the world.
• It was established in the year 1899.
• This bureau got the license in the year 2010 to determine the credit report in India.
• Individuals can check their credit scores, risk scores, and other scores through Equifax.
• You can check your credit score through this bureau.
• Companies and businesses can get credit fraud reports, industry diagnoses, risk management reports, and other reports from Equifax.

CRIF High Mark

• This bureau is operated in India by the Reserve Bank of India.
• CRIF High Mark was established in the year 2005 and obtained the license of functionality in the year 2010.
• This credit report agency covers medium and small enterprises, micro-finance borrowers, commercial borrowers, and others.
• The score defined by this bureau falls between 300 to 900.
• A score of 700 and above is considered a good score and a score below 700 is considered to be a bad score.
• You can obtain credit reports and portfolio management reports from this bureau.

Credit Rating Agencies

Credit Rating agencies evaluate, compute, and assign the creditworthiness of business entities such as sole proprietorships, public and private firms, etc. They are regulated by SEBI(Securities and Exchange Board of India). Financial documents and other financial details such as sales, profile, debts, etc. are used to give credit ratings to the entities. Credit rating agencies are 7 in number.

1. Credit Rating Information Services of India Ltd. (CRISIL)
2. ICRA - Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India Ltd.
3. Credit Analysis and Research (CARE) Ltd.
4. Acuite Ratings & Research Ltd.
5. Brickwork Ratings India Private Ltd.
6. India Ratings and Research Pvt. Ltd.
7. INFOMERICS Valuation and Rating Private Ltd.