Equifax Inc announced today it has begun providing its credit information solutions across India, using member-contributed data from the country’s largest banks and financial institutions. Equifax Credit Information Services Private Limited (ECIS) brings Equifax’s global experience to the growing Indian economy through its joint venture with six leading Indian financial institutions --- Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited, Religare Finvest Limited, Sundaram Finance Limited and Union Bank of India.
Equifax applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a Certificate of Registration to establish the new credit information company under The Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 and was approved for a license in March of this year.
“The emergence of India as a major influence in global commerce, and India’s own internal growth, require world-class customer insights and risk-management systems,” said Richard F Smith, Equifax Chairman and CEO. “Our joint venture combines Equifax technology and international experience with a very large and growing database, managed and delivered entirely within India, to give our customers unmatched data and insights, in the most efficient and effective manner.”
"Our in-country staffing, local hosting, volume and depth of files we already have, allows us to understand the Indian business community and its needs better than any other service provider,” added ECIS Managing Director & CEO Samir Bhatia. “This, combined with Equifax’s global experience, and the deep knowledge and expertise of our partners, gives us -- and our customers -- significant advantages.
“Lenders have told us they want new ways to be able to manage their portfolios,” Bhatia said. “We will be providing a comprehensive suite of credit risk, customer retention/cross-sell and collection products based on the highest calibre data in the industry.”
ECIS has implemented the most stringent standards in the industry for the verification of the information within its database, ensuring its high quality. ECIS is one of only a select few companies granted a license to operate a credit information company in India.
“Equifax has a long history of customizing and delivering credit information services and products. This proven experience, along with the calibre of data and services we’re offering, will allow us to provide unsurpassed solutions to help our customers here,” said Bhatia.
Equifax began providing credit information solutions to the business community in 1899. Equifax’s database includes information on more than 572 million consumers and more than 81 million businesses globally.