A Credit Information Company (CIC) is an organization which collects and analyses credit and loan related data about individuals and companies and generates its products and services on the basis of this data. This data is provided to CICs by their member banks and other financial institutions.

Based on the data of the individuals, a Credit Information Company prepares a Credit Information Report and a Credit Score. Based on the data of the companies, a Credit Information Company prepares a Company Credit Report (CCR).

When an individual applies for a loan/credit with a lender such as a bank or Non-Banking Financial Company etc., the lender contacts their Credit Information Company to get the Credit Score and Credit Information Report of the applicant-borrower. A Credit Score and a Credit Information Report about the borrower helps the lender in deciding whether to grant the borrower the loan or not as these reports predict the ability of the applicant-borrower to repay their loan/credit back to the lender.

Credit Information Companies are also known as Credit Bureaus in India. They were licensed to work in the country under the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

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Note added at 4 days (2021-04-18 05:39:45 GMT) Post-grading
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Hi @Cara Piraino,
Please check the information I just posted as a reply to your comment. It is not India-specific. Thank you for your comment.