SBI subscribes to Credit Info Bureau capital
By Our Banking Bureau | 10 May 2002
This is the first call option that the bank has exercised. SBI is one of the promoters of CIBIL and, along with HDFC, holds 40 per cent in the company. Trans-Union International, Dun and Bradstreet Information Services India Pvt Ltd each hold 10 per cent in the venture.
The monetary and credit policy of October 2001 had said that in order to operationalise the process of collection and dissemination of the data on CIBIL, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will constitute a working group.
One of the recommendations of the working group was that the company should take on the RBIs role of collection and dissemination of information on suit- filed accounts from 1 April 2002. The group had stressed the need for a master legislation to establish the basic regulatory framework so that banks will provide all the credit information that CIBIL requires.
The basic thrust of the group is to examine the role CIBIL could play in the absence of a legislation and if the bureau could be made operational at least to a limited extent. According to some bankers, since the legislation required to get CIBIL in place would take some time, banks and the RBI should formulate guidelines to empower CIBIL to function without the legislation.