Gold Loan Growth Keeps Glittering for NBFCs; Consumer Durable Growth Up in July: RBI

Mumbai: Loans against gold jewellery by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) grew at 68.5 per cent in July 2026 in continuation of a months-long trend where high lending against precious metals has been growing at elevated levels, the Reserve Bank said on Monday.

Lending to facilitate consumer durable buys accelerated to 51.5 per cent in July 2026, as against 46.8 per cent in June and just 18.8 per cent in the year-ago period, as per the periodic data shared by the Reserve Bank.

The gold loans segment had witnessed a growth of 69.3 per cent in the month-ago period, and were up 43.9 per cent in the year-ago period, according to the central bank.

The sharp increase in prices of gold over the last few quarters has made the entire lending ecosystem more comfortable with the segment as there are better returns with high-value security, which also has an emotional value.

However, there have been some voices of concern over the shift away from asset-creation and the higher propensity to borrow for consumption-related expenses.

The housing loans segment for NBFCs, including housing finance companies, grew 11.9 per cent on-year in July as against 11.4 per cent in June and 4 per cent in July 2025, the RBI said.

Vehicle loan segment for NBFCs delivered a growth of 15.1 per cent in July 2026 as against 15.3 per cent in July 2025 and 15.2 per cent in June 2026.

The overall retail credit for NBFCs and HFCs put together grew 21.4 per cent in July 2026.

Growth in loans to the services sector slowed down to 15.2 per cent in July from 24.5 per cent in July 2025 and 17.6 per cent in June this year, the apex bank said.

Loans to the industry segment grew 7.4 per cent in July 2026, down from 9.3 per cent in the year-ago period but higher than the 6.7 per cent in June this year, the RBI said.

(Disclaimer: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by HDFC Sky editorial team and is auto-generated from PTI feed.)