Gold loans continued to expand at a triple-digit pace in the 12 months up to May 2026, even as housing loan growth slowed to 10.9%, pulling overall personal loan growth down to 15.4% and leaving it trailing a 20% rise in services credit, according to sectoral data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Loan Category Performance
The divergence in credit growth is stark across segments. Loans against gold jewellery rose 105.5% year-on-year to about Rs 5.1 lakh crore as of May 31, 2026, sharply outpacing the 15.4% increase in total personal loans to nearly Rs 70.2 lakh crore. Housing loans, the dominant component of personal credit, grew only about 11%, while credit card outstanding rose a mere 1.3% and consumer durable loans contracted 2.6%.
| Loan Category | YoY Growth (May 2026) | Absolute Amount (Rs lakh crore) |
|---|---|---|
| Gold loans | +105.5% | 5.1 |
| Housing loans | ~+11% | — |
| Credit card outstanding | +1.3% | — |
| Consumer durable loans | -2.6% | — |
| Other personal loans | +12.5% | — |
| Total personal loans | +15.4% | ~70.2 |
| Services credit | +20.4% | 60.5 |
| NBFC lending | +33.7% | — |
This divergence lifted the share of gold loans within personal loans to 7.3%, up from 1.97% in May 2024 and 4.1% in May 2025, an increase of 5.4 percentage points over two years. Between May 2025 and May 2026, gold loans accounted for nearly 28% of the incremental growth in personal loans, despite remaining a relatively small portion of the overall stock.
Services Sector Accelerates
By contrast, services credit accelerated, rising 20.4% to Rs 60.5 lakh crore and increased its share of total bank credit to 28.1% from 27.5% a year ago. The expansion was led by lending to non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), which grew 33.7%, according to the RBI data.
Impact on Credit Mix
The strength of gold loans has not been sufficient to offset a broader cooling in large retail segments. Overall bank credit growth stood at 17.7%, but all major personal loan categories—except gold loans—grew below that rate. As a result, the share of personal loans in total bank credit declined to 32.6% in May 2026 from 33.3% a year earlier. In contrast, services credit increased its share to 28.1% from 27.5%.
Implications for Corporate Treasurers and Finance Executives
For CFOs and treasury professionals monitoring credit conditions, the data signals a shift in lending patterns. The rapid expansion of gold loans, typically secured by collateral, suggests a preference for asset-backed credit amid economic uncertainty. The slowdown in housing and consumer loans may reflect tighter underwriting or demand softening, while the surge in NBFC lending indicates that services sector firms are accessing bank credit through intermediaries. These trends affect the cost and availability of credit for different business segments and warrant close attention for working capital and investment planning.
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