Outstanding gold loans extended by banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) in India have surged over the last three years, said Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary on Monday.

Replying to a question by Cuddalore Member of Parliament M.K. Vishnu Prasad in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Chaudhary said that combined gold loan advances outstanding at Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) and NBFCs rose from about ₹7.46 lakh crore as of March 31, 2023 to roughly ₹18.29 lakh crore as of March 31, 2026.

Gold loans outstanding at SCBs alone climbed from ₹6,15,341 crore in March 2023 to ₹14,63,118 crore in March 2026. Of this, Public Sector Banks accounted for ₹11,30,940 crore, followed by Private Sector Banks with ₹3,06,111 crore and Small Finance Banks with ₹18,356 crore.

The Middle and Upper Layer NBFCs, which include major gold-loan specialists, saw outstanding advances against gold rise from ₹1,19,088 crore as of March 2022 to ₹3,66,552 crore as of March 2026. The Minister said the RBI does not maintain State-wise data on gold loans, so a region-wise break-up was not available.

Mr. Chaudhary said that loans against gold have been instrumental in promoting financial inclusion, particularly for rural, micro, small and medium enterprises and underserved borrowers, by bringing new-to-bank and new-to-credit customers into formal lending channels and protecting them from usurious, unorganised lenders.

However, defaults have actually declined over the last five years. The Gross Non-Performing Asset (GNPA) ratio for gold loans at SCBs fell from 0.19 per cent as of March 2023 to 0.12 per cent as of March 2026, he said.