New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday flagged the issue of rise in gold loans and claimed that the Indian economy is "deep in a Modi-made crisis". Congress general secretary in-charge communications cited the February RBI data and pointed out that gold loans had jumped a whopping 71.3%. "India's economy is deep in a Modi-made crisis. Recall that by 2024, widespread and persistent economic stagnation had resulted in a 300% growth in gold loans in just 5 years. Gold loans crossed the Rs. 1 lakh crore mark for the first time ever," Ramesh said on X. "The bad news for India's women now continues to pile up. In February 2025, RBI data showed that gold loans had jumped a whopping 71.3%," he said.
While bank credit in every other sector has slowed, from housing loans to car loans, distress lending such as gold loans is peaking, Ramesh said. Not just that, a Cibil-NITI Aayog report showed that gold loans make up nearly 40% of all credit issued to women, and the number of women forced to put up their jewellery has grown by more than 22% in just five years, he said. "The Modi government has once again demonstrated its complete and utter incompetence in managing the economy. India's women are paying the price," Ramesh said. He also shared on X a media report which stated that gold loan portfolio of banks rose by 71.3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) till December of the current financial year (FY25) to Rs 1.72 trillion, compared to 17 per cent growth a year ago, on the back of rising prices of the yellow metal and slowdown in unsecured loan following increase in risk weights last year. He also shared another media report which said the credit market has added 22% more women borrowers annually between 2019 and 2024, adding four crore new women borrowers who lapped up Rs 4.7 trillion of debt against their gold jewellery.
The Congress on Monday claimed that the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme launched with great fanfare by the Narendra Modi government has proven to be a "complete fiasco", much like demonetisation and the 'Make in India' initiative. The Congress has also been attacking the government over its handling of the economy, claiming the issues of rising prices, decreasing private investment, and stagnating wages are hitting the common people hard. Flagging issues of low consumption expenditure and inequality, the Congress on Friday had said the way out of this quagmire is to shift the focus of policymaking from cronyism to bottom-up empowerment and that it must begin with kick-starting rural incomes.