MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Reserve Bank of India on Monday fined four credit bureaus, including TransUnion CIBIL, for not complying with the rules on maintaining borrower data, a move that comes as the central bank pushes for more accountability following customer complaints.
Certain data related to the credit information maintained by TransUnion CIBIL, Experian Credit Information Company of India, Equifax Credit Information Services and CRIF High Mark Credit Information Services was “not accurate and complete,” the central bank said in four separate statements.
Additionally, on receipt of complaints from some borrowers, TransUnion CIBIL, Equifax and CRIF High Mark had neither updated the credit information relating to them nor informed borrowers regarding the steps taken for correcting discrepancies, the RBI said.
The three companies also did not give the reasons for their inability to comply with the timeframe for providing correct information, within 30 days of receipt of such complaints, the RBI said.
After their response to RBI’s notice, the regulator imposed fines of 2.48 million rupees ($30,248) on Experian Credit, 2.6 million rupees on TransUnion CIBIL, 2.43 million rupees on Equifax Credit Information and 2.58 million rupees on CRIF High Mark Credit Information.
The RBI in April proposed making the country’s credit bureaus more accountable by strengthening the grievance redressal system via measures such as alerting customers when their credit report is accessed and compensation for delayed or altered reports.
The move was in response to a rise in customer complaints regarding credit reports and the functioning of credit bureaus, or credit information companies, the RBI had said.
($1 = 81.9900 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
