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| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Congress on Tuesday (March 4, 2025) cited a report of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to flag the rising gold loans, and claimed that the Indian economy is in the middle of a “Modi-made crisis”.

In a post on X, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said the RBI data of February 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 ₹1 lakh crore mark for the first time ever,” Mr. Ramesh said in the post.

“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 added.

‘Distress lending up’

The Congress leader claimed that bank credit in key sectors – from housing loans to car loans – had slowed down but distress lending such as gold loans was peaking.

Further, a CIBIL-NITI Aayog report showed that gold loans made up nearly 40% of all credit issued to women, and the number of women forced to put up their jewellery had grown by more than 22% in just five years, Mr. Ramesh said.

“The Modi government has once again demonstrated its complete and utter incompetence in managing the economy. India’s women are paying the price,” he said.

On Monday (March 3, 2025), citing another news report, the Congress leader claimed that the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme, launched with great fanfare by the Modi government “has proven to be a complete fiasco, much like demonetisation and the ‘Make in India’ initiative”.