● AA-enabled lending reached ₹3.82 lakh crore across 3.68 crore loans in FY26, underscoring the rapid scale-up of consent-based lending in IndiaAA-enabled lenders are expanding credit access faster across many product types including home loans and LAP and personal loans, particularly among new-to-credit borrowers and Tier 3+ markets.
● Stronger growth is being achieved without compromising portfolio quality, with AA-enabled loans delivering comparable or better risk outcomes across key segments including on NTC customers
CRIF Credit Information Services (CRIF CIC) and Sahamati today released “Consent to Credit – The Digital Way: The Account Aggregator (AA) Impact Report”, a first-of-its-kind study examining how the Account Aggregator framework is transforming credit delivery, expanding financial inclusion, and supporting responsible lending in India. The report combines lender-level, loan-level and pincode-level analysis to evaluate the impact of consent-driven data sharing on lending outcomes.
The study finds that lenders leveraging the Account Aggregator ecosystem are witnessing stronger portfolio growth, deeper penetration among new-to-credit borrowers, improved underwriting outcomes, and greater expansion into underserved markets. The report highlights that AA-enabled lender cohorts significantly outperformed non-AA cohorts in housing and property loans, while also onboarding a higher share of first-time borrowers in key retail and business lending segments.
The report notes that the AA ecosystem has scaled rapidly since becoming operational in September 2021. As of August 2026, the ecosystem comprised 16 operational Account Aggregators, 176 Financial Information Providers and 1,144 Financial Information Users, with over 566 million fulfilled consents and more than 338 million linked accounts. Lending has emerged as the dominant use case, with AA-enabled lending estimated at ₹3.82 lakh crore across 3.68 crore loans in FY26 (Source: Sahamati).
Key findings from the report:
● Housing and property loans: AA-enabled lender cohorts recorded more than double the two-year portfolio growth of non-AA lenders.
● First-time borrowers: AA-enabled lender cohorts recorded a higher share of new-to-credit borrowers in mid-ticket business loans (28.5% vs. 8.6%) and personal loans (9% vs. 3.8%).
● Home and two-wheeler loans: Sanctioned home loan value through AA-enabled channels grew 8.17x year-on-year, while two-wheeler loan value grew 3.82x.
● Loan performance: AA-enabled loans recorded lower 90-day-plus delinquency rates in select categories, including two-wheeler loans (0.5% vs. 5.3%) and personal loans (2.0% vs. 2.2%).
● Credit inclusion: Greater exposure to the AA ecosystem was associated with higher lending to new-to-credit borrowers, borrowers in Tier 3 and beyond markets, and women, particularly in retail credit.
In business loans, there is still scope to catch up, which could materialize once GST records are integrated into the AA ecosystem. This report, through detailed pincode‑level analysis, has also isolated the impact of AA from local economic activity and found a positive influence of AA on overall retail credit and economic growth. For instance, AA exposure is positively associated with lending across retail products, with the strongest growth in housing, personal, and auto loans.
Speaking on the findings, Sachin Seth, Regional Managing Director, India & South Asia, CRIF said, “India’s lending landscape is being reshaped by data empowerment and consent-based information sharing. The Account Aggregator framework is helping bridge longstanding information gaps that have historically limited access to formal credit, particularly for new-to-credit borrowers, small businesses, and underserved segments. Through this report, we see strong evidence that trusted, real-time financial data can support better risk assessment, faster decision-making, and more inclusive credit growth. As the ecosystem continues to mature, AA has the potential to become a foundational pillar of India's digital credit infrastructure.”
Commenting on the report, Shalini Gupta, Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer, Sahamati said,“The next phase of credit growth will depend on how effectively lenders can use reliable financial information to understand borrowers beyond traditional credit histories. The Account Aggregator framework enables this through consent-based access to verified data, helping lenders make more informed decisions while giving individuals control over their financial information. These findings point to the potential of trusted data sharing to widen credit access and support responsible lending. The opportunity now is to deepen adoption, bring more data sources into the ecosystem and extend these benefits to underserved borrowers and small businesses.”
The findings highlight that the expansion of the Account Aggregator ecosystem is enabling institutions to underwrite with greater confidence, improve risk calibration, expand access to underserved borrowers and support broader economic activity. While long-term monitoring remains important, the findings underscore AA's growing role as a critical component of India's digital public infrastructure for finance.