Personal loan, Aug. 25 -- If you are a first-time personal loan borrower, you will typically require a credit score (known as a CIBIL score in common parlance) to show evidence of your creditworthiness.

But all that may change in some time.

Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in Parliament last week that a bank cannot refuse a loan to first-time applicants based on their zero score.

He was reiterating the Reserve Bank of India's directions, issued on January 6, 2025. "As part of best practices for credit institutions, Reserve Bank vide referred Master Direction dated 6.1.2025 has advised CIs that first-time borrowers' loan applications should not be rejected just because they have no credit history," the minister said....