CIBIL flags slower credit-active consumer growth as India’s credit penetration nears 28%

TransUnion CIBIL says credit-active consumer CAGR moderated to 9% in March 2024–March 2026, from 14% in March 2017–March 2019. With penetration nearing 28%, lenders are targeting women, younger and rural borrowers, new-to-credit consumers and MSMEs for the next phase of growth.

— Source publishedThu, 30 Jul, 2026, 20:59 IST·First seen Thu, 30 Jul, 2026, 21:02 IST·Source The Hindu BusinessLine

What happened

TransUnion CIBIL says India’s credit-active consumer growth has slowed, shifting lenders toward targeted expansion. Women, younger borrowers, rural consumers,

Key facts

  • Credit-active consumer CAGR moderated to 9% in March 2024-March 2026 from 14% in March 2017-March 2019
  • Credit penetration reached nearly 28% of eligible population, versus 11% in March 2017
  • Credit-eligible customers rose to 89 crore in March 2026 from 79 crore in March 2017
  • Population accessing credit at least once rose to 74% from 35%
  • New-to-credit originations fell to 13% from 32%
  • Credit-eligible commercial entities increased to 8.7 crore from 6.3 crore
  • Credit-active enterprises declined to 9% from 10%

Why this matters

Retailers should pursue partnerships with fintechs, NBFCs and MSME-credit specialists that can extend responsible embedded finance to underpenetrated customer and supplier cohorts.

What to watch

  • RBI consumer-credit risk guidance, lender capital requirements and changes in unsecured-loan underwriting standards.
  • Growth in new-to-credit originations, especially among women, customers under 30, rural districts and thin-file borrowers.
  • Approval rates, delinquency trends and average ticket sizes for BNPL, consumer durable loans, credit cards and personal loans.
  • Merchant-level conversion differences between cash/UPI and financed checkouts.
  • Credit bureau inquiry growth and active-credit penetration outside major metros.
  • MSME working-capital demand, invoice-finance adoption and small-business delinquency trends.
  • Whether lenders expand co-lending and embedded-credit partnerships with retailers or pull back due to portfolio losses.
  • Build segmented payment journeys for new-to-credit consumers, including low-ticket EMI, pay-in-three and secured or deposit-backed options rather than relying on broad instant-credit offers.
  • Prioritize partnerships with lenders and fintechs that can underwrite using consented transaction and repayment data, especially for rural, women-led and MSME customer cohorts.
  • Adjust assortment and promotion toward financeable opening price points, smaller pack sizes and bundle-led monthly affordability in categories with high credit dependence.
  • Track credit approval, first-loan repayment and repeat-purchase performance by customer segment; optimize for profitable credit-enabled cohorts rather than gross financed GMV.
  • Strengthen cash, UPI and debit-led loyalty propositions so sales do not depend on expanding unsecured consumer credit.
  • For B2B retail and marketplace operations, develop working-capital and inventory-finance offers for small merchants, where MSME credit inclusion may grow faster than household credit.