Credit Growth Overview - Incremental credit to India's commercial sector rose 24% year-to-date, reaching ₹20 lakh crore in the first seven months of FY26, compared to ₹16.23 lakh crore in the same period last year [1][9] - This increase in credit is attributed to lower lending rates, tax relief measures, and cuts in goods and services taxes (GST), indicating a revival in business and investment activity [9] Bank and Non-Banking Credit - Bank credit increased by 11% year-on-year, while credit from non-banking sources surged by 39%, highlighting the significant role of non-banking channels in credit expansion [1][9] - Outstanding credit to the commercial sector expanded by 13% to ₹288 lakh crore as of October 31, 2025, compared to a 12% increase in the same period last year [6][9] Corporate Funding Sources - Corporates raised ₹2.25 lakh crore from the bond market, a remarkable 473% increase over the previous year, and ₹25,475 crore via external commercial borrowings (ECB), compared to repayments of ₹792 crore last year [4][9] - Outstanding loans by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) reached ₹35.8 lakh crore, surpassing the total lent in the previous fiscal year, while corporate bonds issued amounted to ₹22.48 lakh crore, up from ₹20.23 lakh crore in the same period last year [7][9] Monetary Policy Impact - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lowered the repo rate by 100 basis points since February, facilitating easier access to credit for corporates [5][9] - As a result of these changes, large corporates are increasingly relying on market-based instruments such as commercial paper and corporate bonds, reducing their dependence on traditional bank credit [5][9]

Core Insights - A significant data leak involving bank transfer records has been identified, compromising sensitive information such as names, banking details, and contact information [8][9] - The data leak was traced to an unsecured Amazon cloud server containing over 273,000 files, with each file documenting individual bank transactions [8][9] - The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) confirmed that the data leak did not originate from its systems, indicating that the exposed data belonged to multiple banks and non-bank lenders [3][9] Data Leak Details - The exposed data was spread across 38 banks and non-bank lenders, with Aye Finance being disproportionately affected, accounting for 59.63% of the records [3][9] - Other affected institutions included State Bank of India (24.22%), Muthoot Capital (13.31%), Bank of Baroda (11.13%), and Punjab National Bank (10.6%) [9] - UpGuard, the cybersecurity firm that discovered the breach, downloaded 55,000 files and monitored the server, noting that approximately 3,000 files were being added daily [4][9] Response and Investigation - UpGuard notified Aye Finance about the data leak on August 27 and escalated the issue to NPCI and CERT-In, the government agency for cyberattacks, securing the exposed bucket by September 4 [4][5][9] - Aye Finance stated that the misconfiguration leading to the leak could have occurred at any point in the NACH environment, which involves multiple parties [6][9] - The vendor managing ACH mandates confirmed that the folder did not contain sensitive identifiers like KYC or Aadhaar numbers, but rather unsigned ACH mandate applications [7][9]