Chennai, Apr 2 (IANS): Dun & Bradstreet Technologies will use its analytical tools to predict the financial stress and bankruptcies that SME borrowers of state-owned Indian Bank are likely to face in the next 18 months, a top company official said.

"We will be using our predictive analytical tools to assess the financial stress, bankruptcies, propensity to pay back the loan and the ease of collection and other aspects about the small and medium enterprise (SME) borrowers of Indian Bank," Ganesh Sethuraman, managing director, Dun & Bradstreet Technologies, told IANS on Friday.

Each borrower would be given a score on various parameters, he said.

Vivek Agarwal, the senior vice president of the company, told IANS that the SME loan accounts of Indian Bank in the western region would be taken up first for the analysis.

Sethuraman said the assignment would enable the company to prove the concept and launch the fuller service for banks and financial institutions.

"Once the proof of concept is established we will launch our service sometime around June this year. India is the fourth largest economy in the world and the estimated market for this service is around $50 million for players like us," Sethuraman said.

The predictive analytical team for the Indian SMEs would have around 25 members with a strong grounding in statistics, mathematics and economics, Sethuraman said.

"We have been offering the service to companies in the Middle East and other regions with a team size of 180 and doing a business of around $6 million," he said.

The company has developed new set of products for the Indian market, he said.

The company would increase its headcount by around 200 people this year taking the total number of employees on the rolls to around 800, he added.

Predictive analytics is different from credit rating as it goes a couple of steps farther to forecast the possible financial position of a borrower taking into account various factors like economy and market conditions.