Two-thirds of NTC consumers were from semi-urban areas in 2021: Report

More than two-third of the new to credit customers in India hailed from the rural and semi-urban areas in 2021, according to a credit information company.

Women, farmers and youth lead the charge on the New To Credit (NTC) customer addition front, which is desirable from a financial inclusion perspective, Transunion Cibil said on Tuesday.

In 2021, the total number of NTC customers stood at 35 million while the January-September 2022 period saw 31 million additions, it said in a report.

NTC consumers are ones with no prior credit history on their credit bureau file who opened their first-ever, traditional credit product such as a consumer durable loan, personal loan, agricultural loan, two-wheeler, gold loan or home loan.

More than a fourth of the NTC customers in the first nine months of 2022 started their credit journey by availing a consumer durable loan, followed by 16 per cent who took an agricultural loan and 13 per cent availed personal loans, it said.

Among the NTC consumer