Fin Min urges RBI to exclude small borrowers from new gold loan norms

New Delhi: The Finance Ministry said on Friday it has suggested that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should exclude small borrowers of up to Rs2 lakh from the provisions of its draft directions on lending against gold collateral. The Finance Ministry has also suggested that the implementation of the guidelines be postponed to next year.

“The draft directions on lending against gold collateral issued by the RBI have been examined by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the guidance of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The DFS has given suggestions to the RBI to ensure that the requirements of the small gold loan borrowers are not adversely affected,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement on X. DFS has also stated that such guidelines will need time to implement at the field level and hence may be suitable for implementation from January 1, 2026 only, the statement said. Further, DFS has suggested that borrowers below Rs2 lakh may be excluded from the requirements of these proposed directions to ensure timely and speedy disbursement of loans for such small ticket borrowers, the statement explained.

“RBI is reviewing the feedback received on the Draft guidelines. It is expected that concerns raised by various stakeholders, as well as the feedback received from the public, will be duly considered by the RBI before finalising the directions on the same.