Gold-Backed Lending Surges Despite RBI Scrutiny

Despite tighter RBI regulations, loans against gold jewellery by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) have grown nearly 70% year-on-year to Rs 3.41 lakh crore at the end of June 2026.

This is significantly higher than the expansion in NBFCs' overall retail loan portfolio, which grew 20.3% year-on-year in June.

The RBI had introduced a harmonised regulatory framework for lending against gold and silver collateral in June 2025, following supervisory concerns raised by the central bank over practices followed by some lenders.

Despite these efforts to curb gold-backed lending, the segment has continued to expand rapidly, with outstanding NBFC loans against gold jewellery rising 69.3% year-on-year in June.