Delhi, Millennials Lead India in Credit Health; These Cities Are Not Far Behind

Delhi has emerged as the most credit-healthy city in the country, with nearly half of its participants maintaining good credit scores, according to a new report by Paisabazaar. Credit score is basically a numeric value that shows how good or bad a person or an organisation is when it comes to the ability of fulfilling their financial commitments. 

The score is decided based on the analysis of their credit card history and current financial liabilities and determines how much more credit or loan they can get or take.

The report, titled “How India Checked Credit Score”, is based on data from 4.7 million consumers across 710 cities who participated in the first edition of the Credit Premier League (CPL). This 30-day gamified campaign is intended to encourage Indians to check and improve their credit scores. The contest also set out to identify the most credit-healthy city, and to make the often dry subject of credit discipline more engaging.

How credit-healthy are Indians across different cities?

The data shows that with Delhi on top, Pune came close with 44 per cent of participants qualifying as credit-healthy and an average score of 744. Kerala and Chandigarh followed, both with 43 per cent of participants in the healthy bracket, averaging 745 and 744 respectively.

Indore, Odisha, and North-Eastern cities collectively accounted for 37 per cent of participants as credit-healthy individuals.

The highest individual score was 861 out of 900, achieved by five different participants from Bangalore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kerala, and Pune. Another participant from Chennai came close with 859. The report notes an interesting insight into the range of profiles behind these numbers: some had decades of credit history, others were relatively new to borrowing, yet both managed to maintain excellent scores.

However, participation levels were uneven across the country where Mumbai, Hyderabad and Lucknow were the most active, together accounting for around 1.5 million entries. Millennials dominated the league, making up more than half the credit-building participants. The report notes that engagement from Gen Z and Gen X was lower, while boomers formed only a small slice of the total.

Women, though, accounted for merely 8 per cent of the total participants in comparison to 92 per cent male. Among them southern cities showed a stronger involvement while Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore led the female participation ratio.

To add a lighter touch, CPL introduced a Ghibli-style selfie tool that allowed users to create animated images with their credit score. It turned into one of the most shared elements of the campaign, particularly among younger participants, and helped take credit awareness to social media timelines where such topics rarely appear.

Overall, the report notes that about 40 per cent of the nationwide participants were found to be credit-healthy. The larger takeaway is that interest in credit health is spreading fast when people are given interactive ways to engage with it.