ET NEWS

Mumbai: Banks are increasingly giving loans to borrowers rated prime and above, latest data from an assessor focused on individual credit showed, indicating risk aversion among lenders at a time when job expansions at corporate India have become rather tentative amid an AI-led onslaught on repetitive tasks.Data from credit bureau TransUnion CIBIL showed that the bulk of new loan originations are concentrated among borrowers with a CIBIL score of 730 and above. The shift away from riskier segments is also evident in the declining share of new-to-credit customers, whose proportion of total originations has fallen sharply to 16% in January 2026 from 22% two years ago."The industry's preference for prime and above has gone up and at the same time, the industry is preferring existing-to-credit customers," said Bhavesh Jain, MD and CEO, TransUnion CIBIL. "The industry is preferring higher ticket size loans. Within existing credit also, we have seen an increasing trend where lenders are preferring existing-to-lender, or existing-to-bank or existing-to-NBFC, because the loan amounts are very high."Despite the cautious lending environment, overall credit market health has improved. TransUnion CIBIL's March 2026 Credit Market Indicator (CMI) rose to 102 for the quarter ended December 2025, up from 97 in the same quarter of the previous year. The improvement was driven largely by better asset quality, with balance-level 90-plus days past due (DPD) delinquencies improving across key product segments, pushing the CMI's performance sub-index up six points to 107 in December 2025 from 101 a year earlier.The sole area of stress was the micro-loan against property (LAP) segment, where balance-level 90-plus DPD delinquency rose 35 basis points year-on-year to 3.1% in December 2025 - though levels have remained broadly stable and range-bound since the previous quarter.On the supply side, the CMI rose to 98 in the December 2025 quarter from 91 in the December 2024 quarter, propelled by a surge in gold loan volumes and values. Rising gold prices have encouraged consumers to avail higher-ticket gold loans, with the average gold loan ticket size growing 1.8 times since March 2023. The indexed growth in average gold loan ticket size touched 189 points in the December 2025 quarter, compared to 132 in the same quarter of the previous year, with the average ticket size for the three months ended December 2025 standing at ₹1.9 lakh.Gold loans now account for the largest share of retail lending by both volume (36%) and value (39%) - more than a third of total retail loan supply - and in terms of outstanding balances, are now second only to housing loans.

Mumbai: Indian exporters have received a fresh jolt with container shipping lines raising rates by as much as 40% in most cases to compensate for rising fuel costs and higher insurance premiums on account of the Iran war that is lasting longer than the industry expectations, according to executives.These hikes, the second in the past month, are likely to last longer than the previous one which was in effect for weeks as companies are not sure of the longevity of the conflict.Container shipping rates for Indian exports to Europe are set to rise by up to $1,000 per container from April 1, as Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), AP Moller-Maersk A/S and CMA CGM SA roll out increases across key trade lanes."The combination of base increases, ECS (emergency conflict surcharge) and war-risk surcharges is forcing exporters to reassess costs," said a Mumbai-based freight forwarder. "Even routine shipments now carry a price tag that reflects full rerouting and security premiums."MSC has increased base freight by a flat $1,000 per 20-foot container on shipments from Nhava Sheva, Ennore, and Kolkata to North Europe and the Mediterranean. Rates from Nhava Sheva to Antwerp will jump to $3,150, up 46.5% from $2,150 mid-March, while shipments to Valencia will rise 44.4% to $3,250. Ennore-to-Antwerp and Kolkata-to-Antwerp shipments will see hikes of 42.6% and 40.8%, respectively.Maersk is hiking its ECS by $200 per container across overlapping Indian subcontinent-Europe lanes. ECS on northwest India shipments to North Europe will rise 40% from $500 to $700, while shipments from south and east India, Sri Lanka, and Maldives to the same destinations will rise 20-22%. Bangladesh-to-Europe ECS will climb 14-18%. CMA CGM has set a new freight all kinds (FAK) benchmark at $4,600 for East Mediterranean routes, while cutting rates to Algeria by 8%.Backhaul trades from Europe to the Indian subcontinent are also firming. CMA CGM has raised rates by $150 per container, translating to 11-26% increases across North Europe and Mediterranean corridors.

LONDON: OPEC ⁠oil output plunged in March to its lowest level since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020, a Reuters survey found, as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran effectively closed ⁠the Strait ‌of Hormuz and forced export cuts. Crude output by Organization of ⁠the Petroleum Exporting Countries members in March fell by 7.3 million barrels per day month-on-month to 21.57 million bpd, the survey showed, led by cuts in Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United ‌Arab Emirates. Only two OPEC nations - Venezuela and Nigeria - raised output during the month, the ⁠survey found. The Reuters survey is based on flow data from financial group LSEG, information from other companies that track flows, such as Kpler, and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.