Sector Update | 8 June 2025
NBFC: Gold Finance
Final gold lending guidelines: Milder than the draft
Positive for banks; slight impact on disbursement LTVs for gold loan NBFCs
The RBI announced the
final gold lending guidelines
to harmonize gold lending,
including credit assessment for non-consumption loans, LTV thresholds based
on ticket sizes, loan tenors, renewal/top-ups, internal audits, gold auctions, and
other operational processes. These guidelines will apply uniformly to all the
regulated entities doing gold lending, including banks, SFBs, and NBFCs. These
gold lending guidelines have to be complied with as expeditiously as possible
but no later than Apr’26. Loans sanctioned before the date of adoption of these
directions shall continue to be governed by the extant guidelines.
We had articulated in our
earlier report
(when the draft guidelines came out)
that the expected gold lending guidelines will not disrupt or tighten the gold
lending activities. We reiterate that the implementation of final gold lending
guidelines is expected to have only a marginal near-term impact on the
disbursement LTV of gold loan NBFCs, with no material implications over the
medium to long term.
Final gold lending guidelines, released by the RBI after consultations with
various industry stakeholders, including gold lending associations and lending
institutions, are milder (relative to the draft), particularly in terms of the LTV
thresholds, and credit assessment for gold loans will now be required only for
gold loans above ticket sizes of INR250K per borrower.
While there will be a minor impact on the disbursement LTVs of gold loan
NBFCs, they can be significantly mitigated by incentivizing customers to repay
interest at 1M/3M/6M intervals and by introducing select products with loan
tenors of 6 months. However, we believe that the implementation of the final
guidelines will intensify competition between banks and NBFCs, as the
regulatory parity on LTV norms will erode the regulatory arbitrage that NBFCs
had in offering higher disbursement-LTV gold loans.
Key highlights from the final gold lending guidelines
In cases where customers do not possess an invoice for their gold jewelry, they
will now be permitted to submit a self-declaration confirming ownership and
details of the jewelry.
Credit appraisal requirements have been waived for consumption gold loans up
to INR250K.
Revised LTV thresholds and associated guidelines will apply only to gold loans
classified as consumption loans.
For small loans (ticket size up to INR250K per borrower), the LTV threshold
(including the principal and interest accrued) has been increased to 85% (vs.
75% now), and for loans between INR250K and INR500K, the LTV threshold has
been increased to 80%. For ticket sizes above INR500K, the LTV threshold
remains unchanged at 75%.
RBI has allowed NBFCs, SFBs, as well as banks to lend up to an LTV of 85% (incl.
principal and accrued interest) for gold loan ticket sizes up to INR250K per
borrower. This will now effectively increase the disbursement LTVs (for gold
loans up to INR500K ticket size) for banks and might intensify the competitive
landscape for gold loan NBFCs.
Banks and NBFCs on a level playing field; competitive intensity to increase
Abhijit Tibrewal - Research Analyst
(Abhijit.Tibrewal@MotilalOswal.com)
Research Analyst: Nitin Aggarwal
(Nitin.Aggarwal@MotilalOswal.com) |
Raghav Khemani
(Raghav.Khemani@MotilalOswal.com)
Investors are advised to refer through important disclosures made at the last page of the Research Report.
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