On June 27, 2014, the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) had issued a circular (“2014 Circular”) prescribing a uniform data format (“Reporting Format”) for furnishing of credit information to credit information companies (“CICs”).

The Reporting Format had two annexures viz Annex-I and Annex-II:

1. Annex-I which contained 2 (two) formats for credit reporting, viz., consumer bureau and commercial bureau; and
2. Annex-II which contained the credit reporting format for micro finance institution (“MFI”) segment.

On October 14, 2021, the RBI issued a notification (“Notification”) mandating compliance with the 2014 Circular, particularly the Reporting Format.

The salient features of the Notification include the following:

1. The RBI has noted that there is a dearth of details pertaining to the relationship segment (“RS”) of the Reporting Format in the databases of CICs.
2. The RBI has also observed that the RS details are important in establishing cross-linkages across the three modules, viz., consumer, commercial and MFI Bureaus while providing comprehensive credit information of a borrower to credit institutions (“CIs”) by CICs.
3. Reporting of RS data by CIs to CICs would henceforth be mandatory, and should be carried out in the staggered manner given below:

1. Reporting would be mandatory in respect of all new loan accounts opened after July 1, 2022.
2. A phased approach shall be followed for reporting of legacy data as detailed below:
   1. 1. Accounts opened during the period (July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022) have to be updated by January 1, 2023.
      2. Accounts opened in past three years (July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2021) have to be updated by July 1, 2023.
      3. A timeline for reporting of the remainder legacy data would be reviewed by the technical working group and the CIs would be advised in due course.

Please find a copy of the 2014 Circular, here and a copy of the Notification, here.

This update has been contributed by Anurag Prasad (Associate).

Argus Knowledge Centre is now on WhatsApp! Send us a message on +91 8433523504 to receive updates from our Knowledge Centre.