Behavioural Intelligence in Credit Underwriting

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From Bureau Dependence to Behavioural Intelligence: Modernising Credit Underwriting with UPI Data

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Nitya

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How India’s lenders are transforming credit decisions through real-time behavioural scoring.

The Old World of Credit Decisions

For decades, lending in India has revolved around a single question — “What does the bureau say?”
Credit bureaus like CIBIL, Experian, and Equifax have formed the backbone of the country’s formal credit ecosystem, evaluating borrower reliability through past repayment records and outstanding obligations.

But as India’s financial landscape evolved—driven by digital payments, gig work, and diversified income streams—this traditional bureau-based model began to show its limitations. Millions of individuals, despite being financially active, remain “thin-file” customers, invisible to the formal credit system because they have no traditional loans or credit cards.

This gap has left more than 150 million adults unscored or under-scored. For lenders, this represents not just a challenge but also a massive opportunity. The question now is:
Can creditworthiness be assessed fairly without historical borrowing data?

The answer lies in behavioural intelligence powered by UPI data.

The Rise of Behavioural Underwriting

Traditional credit scoring models focus on past borrowing behaviour, but in today’s digital-first economy, transaction behaviour is a much more accurate indicator of financial intent.

Behavioural underwriting shifts the focus from “What have you borrowed?” to “How do you manage your money?”
By analysing UPI transaction data—such as payment frequency, spending categories, and cash-flow consistency—lenders can derive powerful insights into a person’s financial discipline and repayment capability.

This approach allows financial institutions to move beyond static bureau data and instead rely on real-time behavioural signals, creating a more inclusive and predictive credit ecosystem.

Why UPI Data Is the Missing Link in Credit Scoring

UPI (Unified Payments Interface) has transformed how India pays, earns, and saves. With over 13 billion monthly transactions, UPI reflects behavioural trends across every income group—from salaried employees in metros to self-employed merchants in tier-2 cities.

For lenders, this dataset provides unparalleled depth and diversity of insights:

Breadth of Coverage: Captures digital payment behaviour across multiple income levels and geographies.
Depth of Behaviour: Reflects real-world habits—bill payments, peer transfers, merchant spends, and savings frequency.
Real-Time Insights: Enables lenders to assess financial health dynamically, rather than relying on outdated reports.

Essentially, UPI activity is a behavioural fingerprint—revealing intent, consistency, and reliability—three core attributes of modern creditworthiness.

Introducing CARD91’s BlitzScore – India’s First UPI Behavioural Credit Engine

To help lenders leverage this behavioural intelligence, CARD91 has built BlitzScore, an AI-driven UPI Credit Score Engine that converts raw transaction data into real-time, actionable credit insights.

How BlitzScore Works

Secure Data Access: UPI transaction data is collected with explicit user consent and fully anonymised.
AI/ML Analysis: Machine learning models evaluate key variables like transaction volume, frequency, and payment diversity.
Behavioural Scoring: A dynamic score (0–100) is generated to represent the borrower’s credit reliability.
Instant Underwriting: Lenders integrate the score through APIs for faster, automated decisioning.

Core Capabilities

Real-Time Scoring – Instant behavioural insights for high-speed credit processing.
Custom Risk Filters – Configurable thresholds by product or segment.
API & Batch Mode – Scalable across high-volume lending portfolios.
Data Security & Compliance – PCI-DSS certified, consent-based, and fully encrypted.

With BlitzScore, lenders can finally reach new-to-credit and self-employed individuals confidently—unlocking inclusion while maintaining credit quality.

The Shift: From Historical Dependence to Real-Time Intelligence

This transformation doesn’t replace traditional bureaus—it enhances them. By layering behavioural intelligence over existing credit data, lenders achieve a 360-degree risk view, blending historical reliability with current intent.

Real-World Use Cases

Digital Lenders & Fintechs
Fintech platforms offering micro-loans or BNPL products can instantly evaluate risk without waiting for bureau updates.
Example: A fintech offering ₹10K short-term loans increased approval rates by 40% while keeping NPAs stable.
Retail Banks Expanding Credit Reach
Banks can pre-qualify and onboard customers using UPI insights, offering cards or overdraft lines confidently to thin-file users.
NBFCs & Small Finance Banks
For self-employed borrowers whose income flows mainly through UPI, BlitzScore provides a reliable creditworthiness measure.
Embedded Finance Platforms
Credit-line providers can use real-time scoring to dynamically adjust credit limits, monitor risk, and reduce fraud.

Key Challenges and CARD91’s Solutions

By proactively addressing these challenges, BlitzScore simplifies adoption—allowing lenders to modernise without technical friction.

The Future: Building a Behavioural Credit Economy

India’s credit ecosystem is entering an era where behavioural intelligence drives financial inclusion. As UPI expands and digital payments mature, behavioural scoring will become the cornerstone of future credit models.

In this evolving landscape:

Every UPI transaction builds a digital credit footprint.
Credit approvals happen in seconds, not days.
Financial inclusion becomes measurable and scalable.

BlitzScore represents the first step toward this reality—where creditworthiness reflects behaviour, not just borrowing history.

Conclusion: Trust What People Do, Not Just What They Owe

The next wave of lending in India will belong to institutions that embrace real-time behavioural intelligence.
By unlocking the potential of UPI data through CARD91’s BlitzScore, lenders can make smarter, faster, and more inclusive credit decisions—reshaping the future of financial trust.

Because in a digital-first India, behaviour is the new collateral.