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 of communications Jairam Ramesh cited the February RBI data and pointed out that gold loans had jumped a whopping 71. 3%.
Congress leader Ramesh on Monday criticized the Modi government, claiming that India's economy is in a crisis that was created under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"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%. While bank credit in every other sector has slowed, from housing loans to car loans, distress lending such as gold loans is peaking," he added.
He also referred to a report by Cibil and NITI Aayog, which showed that nearly 40% of all credit issued to women was in the form of gold loans. The number of women forced to pledge their jewellery had increased by more than 22% over the past five years, Ramesh added. "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.
Ramesh also shared a media report indicating that gold loan portfolios of banks had risen by 71.3% year-on-year, reaching Rs 1.72 trillion by December of the current financial year. This was a significant increase compared to 17% growth the previous year. The rise in gold loans was attributed to the increasing price of gold and a slowdown in unsecured loans, following a rise in risk weights.
He also shared another report showing that 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 party also criticized the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme, which was launched by the Modi government with much fanfare, calling it a "fiasco," much like demonetization and the 'Make in India' initiative.
The Congress has been attacking the government over its handling of the economy, pointing out issues like rising prices, decreasing private investment, and stagnating wages that are hurting common people. 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.