Field Investigation (FI)
Field Investigation (FI): Field Investigation (FI) is an on-site assessment of a loan applicant's residence, business premises or asset that goes beyond address confirmation to evaluate stability, scale of activity and credibility. The FI report, with photographs and geo-tags, is a core input to the credit decision on business loans, loan against property and commercial vehicle finance.
Why Field Investigation (FI) matters in credit and collections
- Standard for business loans, loan against property (LAP), commercial vehicle (CV) finance and other secured or self-employed products where documents alone cannot establish capacity to repay.
- A typical FI report captures premises type and ownership, years at address, nature and visible scale of business, number of employees, stock and equipment seen, and discreet neighbour or market checks.
- Reports are expected to carry photographs, geo-coordinates and timestamps so that the credit manager can rely on them and auditors can verify that the visit occurred.
- An FI finding that contradicts the application — a shop that does not exist, a residence that is rented when declared owned — is one of the strongest fraud signals available before disbursement.
What an FI visit covers and how it differs from CPV
Where CPV confirms that an address exists and the applicant is there, FI is an investigation of what the lender would be lending against. At a business premises the investigator records the type and ownership of the premises, years of operation at that location, nature of the business, visible stock, machinery and equipment, number of staff present, customer footfall, and whether licences, GST certificates or shop establishment registrations displayed match the application. At a residence the focus is ownership versus tenancy, years at address, family composition and standard of living relative to declared income.
Discreet third-party checks are part of the method. Neighbours, adjacent shopkeepers, the landlord or the market association are asked, without disclosing the loan, how long the business has operated and whether it is regarded as stable. Contradictions between what the applicant declared and what the market says are among the strongest pre-disbursement fraud and over-statement signals a lender can obtain.
FI is product-specific. For loan against property the investigator also checks occupancy of the mortgaged property and any signs of dispute or tenancy. For commercial vehicle finance the visit may extend to the parking yard, the vehicles already owned and the transport contracts that will generate cash flow. For unsecured business loans the emphasis is on evidence that turnover seen in bank statements is plausible given what is physically there.
Regulatory basis
Field Investigation is a credit-risk management practice under the lender's board-approved loan policy rather than a step prescribed by regulation. RBI's guidance on credit risk management and its outsourcing directions apply: the lender remains responsible for the quality and conduct of FI agencies, must maintain a code of conduct for their staff, and must be able to produce the FI record for audit and supervisory review.
Source: Reserve Bank of IndiaHow lenders make FI reports decision-grade
- Use a structured template with mandatory fields and photographs; free-text FI reports are hard to compare and easy to pad.
- Capture geo-coordinates and timestamps automatically through the agent's app so the visit is provable, not just asserted.
- Cross-check FI observations against Bank Statement Analysis: a shop with no visible activity and strong turnover is a question, not a sanction.
- Rotate agencies and sample-audit a share of positive reports — collusion between agent and applicant is the main FI failure mode.
- Feed FI findings into the CAM as evidence with a verdict, so the credit manager sees what was observed, not only a tick.
Field Investigation (FI) — frequently asked questions
Which loan products usually require a Field Investigation?
Business loans to self-employed borrowers, loan against property, commercial vehicle and equipment finance, and most secured lending where repayment depends on an operating business or an asset the lender needs to see.
Who conducts the FI — the lender or an agency?
Both models exist. Larger lenders run in-house FI teams in core markets and empanel agencies elsewhere. Either way, the lender is responsible for the agency's conduct and for the reliability of the report under RBI's outsourcing framework.
What happens if the FI report is negative?
A negative FI is normally a decline or a refer to a senior credit authority with the specific contradiction documented. Some lenders allow a re-visit by a different agent where the first finding was inconclusive rather than adverse.