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India’s Gold-Loan Boom Becomes No. 2 Retail Credit as Bigger Tickets Lift Risk

A new CIBIL report warns of rising stress in larger gold-backed loans.

Overview

  • TransUnion CIBIL reports gold-loan balances up 3.8 times since March 2022, lifting the segment to 11.1% of retail credit by December 2025 and making it the second-largest after home loans.
  • Borrowers are taking larger sums, with the average ticket size rising from Rs 90,000 in early 2022 to Rs 1.96 lakh in late 2025.
  • Delinquency is concentrated in high-value exposures, running about 1.5% for loans above Rs 2.5 lakh compared with 0.7% for smaller balances.
  • Household leverage in this segment has increased as the average outstanding per borrower climbed to Rs 3.1 lakh and the share with exposure above Rs 2.5 lakh rose to 14%.
  • Participation has widened across borrower types and lenders, with women accounting for 39% of 2025 originations and both NBFCs and public sector banks increasing their share of balances.