Welcome to OpenCredit: Democratizing Credit Access in India
Introducing OpenCredit, an open-source initiative to create transparent, fair, and accessible credit scoring for 500+ million Indians currently excluded from formal credit systems.
Today, we're excited to announce the launch of OpenCredit, an open-source, non-profit initiative dedicated to democratizing credit access across India.
The Problem We're Solving
Over 500 million Indians remain excluded from formal credit systems. Traditional credit scoring relies heavily on formal banking history, credit card usage, and documented income - metrics that systematically exclude:
- Street vendors who conduct most transactions in cash
- Agricultural workers with seasonal, variable income
- Gig economy workers without traditional employment records
- Women entrepreneurs with limited formal financial footprints
- Rural communities with restricted access to banking infrastructure
This isn't just a financial problem - it's a barrier to economic mobility that perpetuates inequality.
Our Solution: UPI-Based Credit Assessment
India has something unique: the world's most successful digital payments infrastructure. With over 13 billion monthly UPI transactions, we have unprecedented visibility into real economic activity.
OpenCredit leverages this data to create credit scores based on:
- Transaction Consistency - Regular payment patterns over time
- Cash Flow Health - Income stability and expense management
- Business Relationships - Network of trusted counterparties
- Digital Engagement - Progressive adoption of digital financial tools
Why Open Source?
Credit scoring affects millions of lives, yet most scoring algorithms are proprietary black boxes. We believe this is fundamentally wrong.
By open-sourcing our credit assessment engine, we enable:
- Transparency - Anyone can audit how scores are calculated
- Fairness - The community can identify and fix biases
- Innovation - Developers can build upon and improve the system
- Trust - Borrowers understand exactly why they received their score
Get Involved
OpenCredit is a community effort, and we need your help:
- Developers - Contribute to our scoring engine and API
- Data Scientists - Help refine our algorithms
- Financial Experts - Guide regulatory compliance
- Advocates - Spread the word about financial inclusion
Visit our [Contributing Guide](/contributing) to get started, or join our community on [GitHub](https://github.com/opencredit).
Together, we can build a more inclusive financial future for India.
The OpenCredit initiative is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License and operates as a non-profit organization focused on financial inclusion.