It used to be talked about in millions of Indian homes—mostly by the middle class, increasingly the aspiring neo-middle class, and occasionally by even the rich. But now, the disgruntled murmurs have reached the doors of government policy.

It is about one’s credit score (or CIBIL score, since it is India’s main credit information agency).

Last week, the Narendra Modi government clarified in Parliament that banks and financial institutions cannot reject a loan application solely because an applicant does not have a credit history. Minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has never issued any directive mandating a minimum credit score to secure a loan. Instead, RBI has lenders consider other factors when dealing with first-time credit seekers.

This brings into focus the functioning of CIBIL as an institution. Many believe its credit-rating process to be opaque and lacking sound redressal mechanisms, but with the staggering power to make or break the financial lives of millions of Indians.

It received 22,94,855 complaints in the financial year 2024-25, with 5,80,259 of those being issues stemming from CIBIL’s end, according to a regulatory disclosure by the agency.

CIBIL, the primary........

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