Asked in the Lok Sabha about bad loans in gold lending, the Ministry of Finance said that “the number of defaults in gold loans has declined during the last five years”. As evidence it gave ratios: the gross NPA ratio of scheduled commercial banks’ gold loans fell from 0.19% on 31 March 2023 to 0.12% on 31 March 2026, and that of NBFCs from 2.32% to 0.81%. It gave no count of defaults and no amount.
The ratio fell; the amount did not
A ratio has two parts. A week earlier, in Unstarred Question 2373, the same ministry gave the other part: the gold loans outstanding. Banks’ gold loans grew from Rs 6,15,341 crore on 31 March 2023 to Rs 14,63,118 crore on 31 March 2026, 2.4 times in three years. Multiplying each ratio by its outstanding gives the gold loans in default at banks: about Rs 1,170 crore in March 2023 and about Rs 1,760 crore in March 2026. The ratio fell because lending grew faster than the bad loans, not because the bad loans shrank.
The path was not a steady decline. The banks’ ratio was 0.19% in March 2024 and rose to 0.22% in March 2025, when the amount in default was about Rs 2,160 crore. It came down in the year to March 2026, the year in which banks’ gold lending grew by Rs 4,79,402 crore. The NBFC ratio rose from 2.32% to 2.35% in March 2024 before falling. Both answers mark the March 2026 figures as provisional, and the banks’ figures for March 2022 are not available, so for banks the “five years” cover four year-ends.
The answer does not say why the amount rose, and a count of defaults, which is what the answer describes, is not in either answer.
Teal: scheduled commercial banks. Grey: NBFCs in the middle and upper layers. Each bar is the gross NPA ratio times gold loans outstanding, rounded to Rs 10 crore. Banks’ March 2022 figures are not available. Source: Ministry of Finance, answers to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 2373 and Unstarred Question 3648.
Four in five rupees in five states
RBI told Parliament it does not keep state-wise data on gold loans. The ministry gave instead the gold loans of public sector banks by State/UT on 31 March 2026, as reported by the banks. Their 37 rows add up to Rs 11,31,911.34 crore. Of this, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana hold Rs 9,09,622 crore, 80.4%. Tamil Nadu alone holds Rs 4,11,656 crore, 36.4%, more than the 32 States/UTs outside the five together (Rs 2,22,289.34 crore).
The question said Andhra Pradesh stood second and Telangana fourth among states in gold loans. In the public sector banks’ table they hold those places, with Tamil Nadu first and Karnataka third. The table covers public sector banks only, so its amounts are not the question’s.
What the answer does not give
The national total. The question cited Rs 18.62 lakh crore of gold loans outstanding in March 2026 and a 75% share for the five southern states. The answer neither confirms nor corrects either figure. The two tables the ministry gave a week earlier, for banks and for NBFCs in the middle and upper layers, add up to Rs 18.30 lakh crore; they leave out regional rural banks, payments banks, co-operative banks and NBFCs in the base layer.
Bad loans by state, and their amount. The question asked for the details of NPAs in gold loans. The answer gives two national ratios.
Gold loans among retail products. Asked whether gold loans have become the second largest retail product after home loans, the answer says the largest is housing loans, followed by personal loans and vehicle loans. It gives no figure for gold loans.
Auctions. In Unstarred Question 2373, RBI said it does not keep year-wise or state-wise data on auctions of pledged gold.
Adds up
Two sources, one number. The public sector banks’ own state table comes to Rs 11,31,911.34 crore; RBI’s figure for public sector banks on the same date is Rs 11,30,940 crore. They are Rs 971.34 crore apart, 0.09%. In RBI’s bank table, the four bank groups add up to the printed scheduled commercial banks row in March 2023 and March 2024, and fall Rs 1 crore short of it in March 2025 and Rs 8 crore short in March 2026. The two answers give the same gross NPA ratios for every year they share.
Got it right
At NBFCs the improvement shows in the amount as well as the ratio: about Rs 2,970 crore in default in March 2026, against about Rs 3,040 crore in March 2023 and about Rs 4,470 crore in March 2025, while their gold lending grew 2.8 times. The ministry found state figures from the banks when the regulator had none, and they agree with the regulator’s total to within a tenth of one per cent. The answer also sets out RBI’s June 2025 Directions on lending against gold and silver and the borrower safeguards RBI has prescribed: prior notice before an auction, a reserve price of at least 90% of the current value of the gold, refund of any surplus, upfront disclosure of charges and compensation for delay in returning pledged gold.
Every year, banks and NBFCs
| As on | Banks outstanding, Rs crore | Banks GNPA | NBFCs outstanding, Rs crore | NBFCs GNPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2022 | n.a. | n.a. | 1,19,088 | 2.31% |
| 31 March 2023 | 6,15,341 | 0.19% | 1,30,839 | 2.32% |
| 31 March 2024 | 7,73,248 | 0.19% | 1,54,496 | 2.35% |
| 31 March 2025 | 9,83,716 | 0.22% | 2,10,010 | 2.13% |
| 31 March 2026 | 14,63,118 | 0.12% | 3,66,552 | 0.81% |
Public sector banks’ gold loans, state by state
| State / UT | Rs crore, 31 March 2026 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tamil Nadu | 4,11,656 | 36.4% |
| Andhra Pradesh | 2,22,953 | 19.7% |
| Karnataka | 98,962 | 8.7% |
| Telangana | 92,394 | 8.2% |
| Kerala | 83,657 | 7.4% |
| Maharashtra | 45,710 | 4.0% |
| Gujarat | 23,381 | 2.1% |
| Uttar Pradesh | 21,745 | 1.9% |
| Rajasthan | 19,705 | 1.7% |
| Madhya Pradesh | 19,028 | 1.7% |
| West Bengal | 16,957 | 1.5% |
| Odisha | 16,846 | 1.5% |
| Punjab | 13,057 | 1.2% |
| Puducherry | 10,302 | 0.9% |
| Haryana | 9,161 | 0.8% |
| Delhi | 5,720 | 0.5% |
| Bihar | 5,717 | 0.5% |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 2,501 | 0.2% |
| Goa | 2,281 | 0.2% |
| Chhattisgarh | 2,001 | 0.2% |
| Uttarakhand | 1,986 | 0.2% |
| Jharkhand | 1,705 | 0.2% |
| Manipur | 1,030 | 0.1% |
| Himachal Pradesh | 971 | 0.1% |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 845 | 0.1% |
| Assam | 624 | 0.1% |
| Chandigarh | 479 | 0.0% |
| Tripura | 279 | 0.0% |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 129 | 0.0% |
| Daman and Diu | 63 | 0.0% |
| Meghalaya | 25 | 0.0% |
| Lakshadweep | 21 | 0.0% |
| Sikkim | 13 | 0.0% |
| Nagaland | 7 | 0.0% |
| Ladakh | 0.22 | 0.0% |
| Mizoram | 0.12 | 0.0% |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 0 | 0.0% |
| Sum of rows (no total printed) | 11,31,911.34 | 100.0% |
Public sector banks only, as reported by the banks. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu are listed separately in the answer, and are kept so here.
How we did this
- Sources: the Ministry of Finance’s answer to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 3648, answered on 10 August 2026, parts (a) to (f) and Annexures I and II; and its answer to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 2373, answered on 3 August 2026, Annexures I and II.
- Bad-loan amounts are the printed gross NPA ratio times the printed outstanding for the same lenders and date. A ratio printed as 0.12% can be anything from 0.115% to 0.125%; across that range banks’ March 2026 amount stays above their March 2023 amount.
- The state table prints no total; we use the sum of its rows. Its small rows (Ladakh Rs 0.22 crore, Mizoram Rs 0.12 crore) are as printed.
- Download the data: gold-loans-psb-by-state-2026-03-31.csv and gold-loans-outstanding-gnpa-2022-2026.csv. Our method and labels are on the Data Audit method page.
Questions
What is a gross NPA ratio?
The share of loans outstanding that are non-performing, before provisions. If the amount lent grows faster than the amount in default, the ratio falls even when the amount in default rises.
How did you work out the bad-loan amounts?
By multiplying each year's gross NPA ratio, from both answers, by the gold loans outstanding the ministry gave for the same lenders and date in Unstarred Question 2373. The answer says the ratio was compiled from RBI's NPA and outstanding data. The ratios are printed to two decimals, so the amounts are approximate; we round them to Rs 10 crore and call them "about".
Does the state table cover all gold loans?
No. It covers public sector banks only, as reported by the banks. RBI told Parliament it does not keep state-wise data on gold loans, so there is no state table for private banks, small finance banks, co-operative banks or NBFCs in either answer.
Where does the data come from?
From two Ministry of Finance answers in the Lok Sabha: Unstarred Question 3648, answered on 10 August 2026 (Annexures I and II), and Unstarred Question 2373, answered on 3 August 2026 (Annexures I and II).
Corrections
No corrections so far. If any figure here is wrong, send the correcting document to editor@oquilia.com and we will correct it and record the change on this page.