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Indian households own nearly 34,000 tons of gold worth about $5 trillion.Global PE firm Bain Capital got RBI approval to buy up to 41.7% stake in Manappuram Finance, India's second62largest gold loan provider, in February.Higher bullion prices have increased the value borrowers can unlock with the same amount of metal, making gold loans more appealing.

Hello, I am Priyanka Salve, writing to you from Singapore.

Welcome to the latest edition of Inside India your one-stop destination for stories and developments from the world's fastest growing large economy.

This week, I unpack what's driving the rapid surge in gold62loan growth in the world's second62largest bullion market. Loans against gold are a multibillion62dollar industry in India, powered by households holding $5 trillion in bullion.

Enjoy!

Any thoughts on today's newsletter? Share them with the team.

Indian households are sitting on a mountain of gold.

They own more than 34,000 tons of the yellow metal, as per a Morgan Stanley report from October last year, with Kotak Mahindra Bank pegging its value at about $5 trillion.

That vast reserve is now powering one of the fastest-growing lending segments in India. As other forms of consumer credit slow, gold loans have surged, driven by tighter banking rules for unsecured loans, a sharp rally in global gold prices, improved access, and perhaps a rising financial stress among households.

While about 90% of Indian households' hoardings are still lying idle, according to Shripad Jadhav, business head of gold loans at Kotak Mahindra Bank, gold-backed lending is beginning to reshape India's retail credit landscape, even drawing some global investors.

Global private equity firm Bain Capital has made a bold bet on loans against gold, with plans to acquire up to 41.7% stake in Manappuram Finance, India's second62largest gold loan provider.

The deal, approved by the Reserve Bank of India last month, signals how international investors see opportunity in the country's most traditional but underutilized asset.

In December last year, Japanese financial behemoth MUFG said it was acquiring a 20% stake in Indian shadow banking firm Shriram Finance, which plans to double down on loans against gold.

RBI data shows gold loans more than doubled in one year, rising to 4 trillion rupees ($43.3 billion) in January from 1.75 trillion rupees a year earlier. Gold-backed lending is now the largest retail loan segment in the country after home and vehicle loans, as well as the fastest-growing retail credit category.

The actual size of gold loans in India is estimated to be 14 trillion rupees, said Yan Wang, chief emerging market strategist at Canadian firm Alpine Macro, adding that the RBI data only captures personal gold loans from certain commercial banks.

Non-banking financial companies, or NBFCs, account for 45%C50% of gold loan volume, according to a Macquarie report from last month which is not captured by the RBI.

As India's central bank tightened the rules around unsecured lending in late 2023, it cut off access to this line of credit for many small and private business borrowers, Hanna Luchnikava-Schorsch, head of Asia-Pacific economics at S&P Global Market Intelligence, told me.

"Personal loans growth has slowed from an average of 30% in six months to December 2023 to 12.2% in 2025," she said. During the same time, global gold prices have soared.

From 2024 to date, gold has gained more than 140% to cross $5000 per ounce, hitting several records this year.

Higher gold prices increase the value borrowers can unlock with the same amount of metal making gold loans more appealing, Luchnikava-Schorsch said.

Historically, demand for loans against gold was driven by South Indian states and the semi-urban market, especially among agricultural communities, experts said.

Now, that growth is broad62based across India, says Kotak Mahindra Bank's Jadhav, as middle62class as well as high-net-worth individuals in big cities are using gold loans to fund time62sensitive financial needs.

The biggest beneficiaries of this demand for gold loans have been NBFCs such as Manappuram Finance and industry leader Muthoot Finance . Their shares have risen 24% and 47%, respectively, over the last year, outpacing the benchmark Nifty 50 index by a wide margin.

"Most NBFCs can disburse a loan within an hour of a customer walking into a branch," said Shreya Shivani, an NBFC analyst at Nomura.

Even a person with a "poor" credit score who owns good quality gold can get a loan at a much better lending rate compared to unsecured personal loans, she said. While that widens access to credit, it also raises questions.

A rapidly growing loan segment that bypasses traditional credit assessments could indicate stress in the economy, with Macquarie's report also attributing people feeling financially squeezed, and incomes not keeping pace with costs, among the reasons driving the boom in gold loans.

Shripad says that the rise in gold loans is "a marker of financial maturity" as people are monetizing the precious metal and using it as a hassle-free, quick, and low62cost credit line.

India's Modi reaches out to Iran. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian within hours of Tehran's new supreme leader vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, as New Delhi scrambles to mitigate energy supply risks.

India's U.S.-Israel tilt is testing ties with Iran. While millions of barrels of oil flow to China via the Strait of Hormuz, India Tehran's old ally is yet to secure a safe passage for its ships stuck in the critical waterway as New Delhi's deepening ties with the U.S. and Israel strain relations with Iran.

India's consumer inflation rises for a fourth straight month. India's consumer inflation rose to 3.21% in February, up from 2.75% in the previous month, but in line with expectations of economists polled by Reuters.

Coming up

March 20: Weekly RBI updated on India FX reserve.

March 20: Central Mine Planning & Design Institute IPO opens.

March 24: India HSBC manufacturing and services flash PMI.

周一至周五，新加坡/香港时间 11:00 - 12:00 | 中欧时间 05:00 - 06:00

印度家庭拥有近3.4万吨黄金，价值约5万亿美元。全球私募股权公司贝恩资本（Bain Capital）于2月获得印度储备银行（RBI）批准，将收购印度第二大黄金贷款提供商Manappuram Finance至多41.7%的股份。金条价格上涨使得借款人可以用相同数量的黄金获得更高额度的贷款，这令黄金贷款更具吸引力。

您好，我是普里扬卡·萨尔维，现从新加坡致信给您。

欢迎阅读最新一期《印度内参》——为您提供全球增长最快的大型经济体的新闻动态与深度报道，这里是一站式资讯平台。

本周，我将剖析全球第二大黄金市场中黄金贷款规模迅猛增长的驱动因素。在印度，以黄金为抵押的贷款是一个价值数十亿美元的产业，其背后是家庭持有的5万亿美元黄金储备。

祝您愉快！

对今天的新闻简报有什么想法吗？欢迎与团队分享。

印度家庭坐拥金山。

根据摩根士丹利去年10月的报告，他们持有超过3.4万吨黄金，而科塔克马辛德拉银行估算其价值约为5万亿美元。

这一庞大储备如今正推动着印度增长最快的贷款业务之一。随着其他形式的消费信贷放缓，黄金贷款却大幅增长，这主要受到无抵押贷款银行监管趋严、全球金价急剧上涨、贷款渠道改善以及家庭财务压力可能上升等因素的驱动。

尽管印度家庭约90%的黄金储备仍处于闲置状态，但据科塔克马辛德拉银行黄金贷款业务负责人什里帕德·贾达夫（Shripad Jadhav）称，黄金抵押贷款正开始重塑印度的零售信贷格局，甚至吸引了一些全球投资者的关注。

全球私募股权公司贝恩资本（Bain Capital）对黄金抵押贷款业务作出大胆押注，计划收购印度第二大黄金贷款提供商Manappuram Finance至多41.7%的股份。

这项上月获印度储备银行批准的交易表明，国际投资者如何在该国最传统却未充分利用的资产中看到机遇。

去年12月，日本金融巨头三菱日联金融集团（MUFG）宣布收购印度影子银行机构Shriram Finance的20%股份，后者计划加大对黄金抵押贷款业务的投入。

印度储备银行数据显示，黄金贷款在一年内增长了一倍多，从一年前的1.75万亿卢比增至今年1月的4万亿卢比（合433亿美元）。黄金抵押贷款已成为该国仅次于住房贷款和汽车贷款的第三大零售贷款类别，同时也是增长最快的零售信贷类型。

加拿大阿尔派宏观公司首席新兴市场策略师王岩表示，印度黄金贷款的实际规模估计为14万亿卢比，并补充称，印度储备银行（RBI）的数据仅涵盖部分商业银行的个人黄金贷款。

根据麦格理上月的报告，非银行金融公司（NBFCs）占据了黄金贷款市场45%至50%的份额——这一数据未被印度储备银行（RBI）纳入统计。

标普全球市场财智亚太区经济研究主管汉娜·卢奇尼卡娃-肖尔施向我透露，随着印度央行在2023年底收紧无担保贷款规定，许多小型企业和私营企业借款人因此失去了这类信贷渠道。

她表示：“个人贷款增速已从2023年12月前六个月的30%平均水平放缓至2025年的12.2%。”与此同时，全球黄金价格大幅飙升。

自2024年至今，黄金价格涨幅超过140%，突破每盎司5000美元大关，并在今年屡创新高。

卢奇尼卡娃-肖尔施表示，金价上涨使得借款人可以用相同数量的黄金获得更高额度的贷款，这增强了黄金贷款的吸引力。

专家表示，历史上以黄金为抵押的贷款需求主要由南印度各邦和半城市市场推动，尤其是在农业社区中。

科塔克马辛德拉银行的贾达夫表示，如今这种增长在印度各地普遍存在，因为大城市中的中产阶级和高净值人群都在利用黄金贷款来满足时间紧迫的财务需求。

黄金贷款需求激增的最大受益者是马纳普拉姆金融（Manappuram Finance）等非银行金融公司以及行业龙头穆图特金融（Muthoot Finance）。过去一年中，这两家公司的股价分别上涨了24%和47%，以显著优势跑赢基准股指Nifty 50。

野村证券非银行金融机构分析师施蕾雅·希瓦尼表示：“多数非银行金融机构能在客户走进分支机构后一小时内发放贷款。”

她表示，即便是信用评分“较差”的人，只要持有优质黄金，也能获得比无担保个人贷款优惠得多的利率。虽然这拓宽了信贷渠道，但也引发了质疑。

一个绕过传统信用评估、快速增长的贷款领域可能预示着经济压力。麦格理银行的报告还指出，民众感到财务拮据、收入跟不上支出，是推动黄金贷款热潮的原因之一。

施里帕德表示，黄金贷款的兴起是"金融成熟度的标志"，因为人们正在将这种贵金属变现，并将其作为一种便捷、快速且低成本的信贷额度使用。

印度总理莫迪与伊朗总统易卜拉欣·莱希通话。在德黑兰新任最高领袖誓言继续封锁霍尔木兹海峡数小时后，印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪即致电伊朗总统易卜拉欣·莱希，新德里方面正竭力缓解能源供应风险。

印度向美以倾斜的外交政策正考验其与伊朗的关系。当数百万桶石油通过霍尔木兹海峡运往中国之际，作为德黑兰传统盟友的印度，却因新德里与美以关系的深化导致与伊朗关系紧张，至今未能确保其滞留在这条关键水道上的船只获得安全通行权。

印度消费者通胀率连续第四个月上升。2月份通胀率从1月的2.75%攀升至3.21%，符合路透社调查经济学家的预期。

即将呈现

3月20日：印度央行（RBI）更新每周外汇储备数据。

3月20日：中央矿山规划设计研究院（Central Mine Planning & Design Institute）首次公开募股启动。

3月24日：汇丰银行印度制造业和服务业采购经理人指数（PMI）初值。