When you need funds for sudden exigencies, a gold loan can provide quick access to money. You can also avail of relatively lower interest rates by pledging gold with a bank. Despite the recent downtrend in prices, gold remains a preferred asset due to its high liquidity.While loan-to-value (LTV) is the most important metric in a gold loan, as it directly determines how much you can borrow, there are several other rules you must know before pledging the yellow metal. For instance, loans are not available aga ...

Core Insights - State Bank of India (SBI) is expected to achieve a home loan portfolio exceeding ₹10 lakh crore in the next fiscal year, driven by strong demand and a favorable low-interest-rate environment [1][2] - SBI's home loan portfolio recently surpassed ₹9 lakh crore, making it the largest mortgage loan provider in India [2] - The bank's home loan book grew by 14.4% year-on-year, closing FY25 at ₹8.31 lakh crore [2] Group 1: Home Loan Portfolio Growth - SBI's home loan portfolio has steadily increased from ₹1 lakh crore in March 2011 to ₹9 lakh crore in November 2025 [3] - The bank has maintained non-performing assets (NPAs) in the home loan segment at less than 1%, with a gross NPA of 0.72% at the end of FY25, one of the lowest in the banking sector [3] Group 2: Overall Credit Growth - SBI has revised its overall credit growth target from 12% to 14% for the current fiscal year, anticipating robust growth particularly from the Retail, Agriculture, and MSME (RAM) segments [4][5] - The RAM segment, which constitutes 67% of SBI's total loan portfolio, crossed the ₹25 lakh crore milestone in September [4] - The MSME sector is experiencing growth rates of 17-18%, while agriculture and retail are growing at around 14% [5]

Core Insights - The surge in gold loans is driven by rising gold prices and a tightening of unsecured lending options like personal loans and credit cards [1][4][12] Group 1: Gold Loan Market Dynamics - In FY26, banks disbursed ₹85,432 crore in gold loans, surpassing home loans which totaled ₹70,675 crore [2] - Gold prices increased by 23% this fiscal year, reaching ₹109,390 per 10 grams, allowing borrowers to secure larger loans against the same amount of gold [3] - Gold loan disbursals grew by 40.9% since the end of March and 122% year-on-year, while home loans only rose by 2.3% since end-March [5] Group 2: Borrower Behavior and Trends - Approximately 60-70% of gold loan customers are repeat borrowers, indicating a reliance on gold loans for urgent financial needs [6] - The tightening of unsecured lending channels has led small businesses to utilize gold loans for working capital [4] Group 3: Competitive Landscape - Traditional non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) have seen increased competition from banks entering the gold loan market, with major public sector banks like SBI and BoB actively promoting gold loans [7][11] Group 4: Regulatory Environment - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks to lend more against gold by increasing the loan-to-value ratio, contributing to the growth of the gold loan sector [10] - Regulatory changes are addressing the classification of gold loans, preventing banks from misclassifying regular loans as agricultural loans, which previously allowed for higher lending limits [14][15]