National News
AKGSMA and IAGES Join Forces in Kozhikode to Elevate Kerala’s Gold Trade Standards
The All Kerala Gold and Silver Merchants Association (AKGSMA) held its State Council Meeting in Kozhikode, in collaboration with the India Association for Gold Excellence and Standards (IAGES) — a significant stride towards strengthening transparency, trust, and professionalism in Kerala’s gold trade sector.
The meeting was presided over by K. Surendran, State President of AKGSMA, with prominent office bearers including Adv. S. Abdul Nazar (General Secretary), C.V. Krishnadas (Treasurer), M. Vineeth (Working Secretary), and Betty Thomas, representative of the World Gold Council, in attendance.
Kaushalendra Sinha, CEO of IAGES, emphasized the initiative’s core vision — to integrate small traders into a trusted and transparent gold ecosystem. “Our mission is to raise the bar for India’s gold trade by empowering stakeholders with professional standards and building consumer trust,” he stated.
Key figures such as State Vice Presidents Faisal Amin, Abdul Aziz Erbad, and P. T. Abdurahman Haji, along with several State Committee Secretaries from across districts, participated and addressed the gathering.
A highlight of the meeting was a strategic discussion between Kaushalendra Sinha, Betty Thomas, and M.P. Ahammed, Chairman of Malabar Group, along with AKGSMA leaders. The dialogue focused on statewide collaboration to promote IAGES’s vision and strengthen Kerala’s position in India’s evolving gold standards framework.
This meeting marks a key milestone in aligning Kerala’s robust jewellery sector with national efforts for excellence and ethical trade practices.
India’s appetite for borrowing against gold is reshaping the country’s credit landscape. Outstanding gold-backed loans have surged 128% from a year earlier, crossing Rs.4 lakh crore ($48 billion) for the first time, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India. As of Jan. 31, loans secured by gold jewellery stood at Rs.4,00,517 crore, marking one of the fastest expansions in retail credit in recent years.
The boom in gold loans has helped propel overall non-food bank credit growth to 14.4% year-on-year. Personal loans now account for 34.5% of total bank lending, outpacing other segments and underscoring a broader shift toward consumer-driven credit expansion
Gold loans alone contributed roughly 9% of incremental bank credit during the period. Between January 2024 and January 2026, outstanding gold-backed credit rose by nearly Rs.3.1 lakh crore—an increase of about 338% over two years—more than quadrupling the size of the portfolio.
Two factors are driving the surge. First, gold prices have climbed roughly 152% over the past two years, increasing the collateral value of household holdings. Second, regulatory guidance requiring banks to classify loans secured by gold explicitly as gold loans has sharpened reporting and accelerated balance-sheet growth in the segment.
The trend highlights a distinctive feature of India’s financial system: households’ vast stock of physical gold, long viewed primarily as a store of wealth, is increasingly being mobilized as collateral for formal credit.
While personal lending and credit to nonbank financial companies within the services sector continue to expand rapidly, industrial credit remains uneven. Loans to micro, small and medium enterprises are growing steadily, but borrowing by large corporations has stayed relatively muted.
Since March 21, 2025, banks have added Rs.21.8 lakh crore to their non-food loan books, translating into 12% growth for the financial year to date. Yet it is gold—rather than factories or infrastructure—that is emerging as one of the most dynamic engines of India’s current credit cycle.
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