India's credit market is still growing. The selection rules are changing.
CreditQ reads the market through four questions: where credit is going, who is getting it, what lenders are selecting for, and where stress is forming. The page separates balances from originations, accounts from borrowers, and late delinquency from the earlier signals that usually arrive first.
Quarterly Pulse
The headline numbers that frame everything else on the page. Each carries its data date and source.
Four Changes That Matter
The quarterly narrative in four signals. Each has an operating implication, not just a headline.
Exposure is rising faster than account count
Retail outstanding grew 16.6%, while active retail loan accounts grew 6.2%. Originations value also grew faster than volume in Q4 FY26.
Collateral is doing more of the work
Gold loans grew 50.4%. LAP grew 20.9%. Vehicle credit remained in double digits. Credit-card balances were flat.
Inclusion has narrowed at the margin
New-to-credit share in retail originations fell from 16.6% to 14.8%. Below-prime share fell from 27.6% to 26.5%.
Late stress is lower, early signals are mixed
Retail balance-level 90+ DPD improved to 1.3%. Several product vintages also improved. However, cure rates weakened in housing, property and gold. Microfinance PAR 1-30 rose from 0.6% to 0.8% in April.
The market is not growing as one book.
Product growth is separating into three groups: collateral-led acceleration, stable secured credit, and selective unsecured lending.
| Product | Outstanding (₹ L Cr) | YoY Growth | 90+ DPD | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Loan | 4.2 | +50.4% | 1.1% | Collateral-led |
| Loan Against Property | 9.8 | +20.9% | 1.8% | Stable secured |
| Vehicle Loan | 5.6 | +14.2% | 1.5% | Stable secured |
| Home Loan | 32.4 | +12.8% | 1.2% | Stable secured |
| Personal Loan | 14.1 | +18.5% | 1.6% | Selective unsecured |
| Credit Card | 2.8 | +2.1% | 2.4% | Flat / cautious |
| Consumer Durable | 1.9 | +9.3% | 1.9% | Selective unsecured |
Who is getting it?
Borrower mix explains why asset quality changed. The delinquency number alone does not.
Distribution and balance-sheet capacity sit in different places.
Origination volume shows who reaches the customer. Origination value shows who carries the larger ticket. The split is useful because market share by value alone hides the distribution layer.
| Lender Group | Volume Share | Value Share | Implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSU Banks | 14% | 32% | Lower volume, larger tickets |
| Private Banks | 12% | 25% | Concentrated in prime segments |
| NBFCs | 43% | 33% | High reach, moderate ticket |
| Digital-first FinTech | 25% | 2% | Volume-heavy, small-ticket |
| SFBs and others | 6% | 8% | Niche, geography-focused |
A lower 90+ number does not settle the risk question.
Late delinquency is improving. The more useful reading combines it with vintage performance, cure rates, wallet concentration and the borrower's exposure outside the new loan.
| Signal | Value | Direction | Data Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retail 90+ DPD (balance) | 1.3% | Improving | Mar 2026 |
| MFI PAR 1-30 | 0.8% | Rising | Apr 2026 |
| MFI PAR 31-90 | 0.4% | Stable | Apr 2026 |
| Housing cure rate | Weaker | Deteriorating | Q4 FY26 |
| Gold loan cure rate | Weaker | Deteriorating | Q4 FY26 |
| Credit card roll-forward | Stable | Flat | Mar 2026 |
The borrower and the business can no longer be read separately.
A growing share of commercial credit is taken in an individual's name. That makes consumer-bureau history, entity-bureau history and business context part of the same underwriting problem.
Participation is rising. The ticket-size gap is still visible.
Women are growing faster as borrowers and generally repay better. The useful question is where that better performance is converting into larger individual and business credit.
Different products are deepening in different Indias.
Metro share, beyond-top-100 share and state concentration tell different stories. Geography should be read by product, not as one national penetration score.
| Product | Top 8 Cities | Cities 9-100 | Beyond Top 100 | Pattern |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Loan | 51.8% | 28.4% | 19.8% | Metro-concentrated |
| Credit Card | 40.6% | 31.2% | 28.2% | Metro-concentrated |
| Personal Loan | 31.2% | 27.3% | 41.5% | Beyond-100 led |
| Consumer Durable | 24.1% | 33.6% | 42.3% | Beyond-100 led |
| Gold Loan | 18.7% | 35.4% | 45.9% | Rural + semi-urban |
| Vehicle Loan | 29.3% | 38.1% | 32.6% | Spread across tiers |
Credit growth is running ahead of deposit growth.
Borrower demand is only one side of the market. Funding cost, deposit competition and policy transmission decide how much of that demand lenders can carry without sacrificing margin or selection discipline.
One number, one definition, one date.
Credit reports use similar words for different units. CreditQ keeps those units separate before it draws a conclusion.
RBI, TransUnion CIBIL, CRIF High Mark, SIDBI, Experian, Government statistical and regulatory releases.
BCG, FIBAC, Institutional research from Nuvama, YES Securities and similar firms. Forecasts and estimates are labelled clearly.
DRHPs, annual reports, investor presentations. Used only for company notes, not as neutral industry estimates.
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