National News
Supriya Kataria, Founder of Kumari Fine Jewellery, honoured as “Voice of the Year” at the Women Leaders Summit & Awards 2025, Goa
Supriya Kataria of Kumari Fine Jewellery honoured for her inspiring leadership and authentic voice at the Women Leaders Summit & Awards 2025 in Goa.
Supriya Kataria, Founder of Kumari Fine Jewellery, was felicitated with the prestigious “Voice of the Year” award at the Women Leaders Summit Awards 2025 (India Edition), held from 14th to 16th October at Alila Diwa, Goa. The event brought together an exceptional gathering of women leaders, changemakers, and innovators from across India, celebrating their transformative impact on business, society, and culture. The summit, themed around leadership, change, and inclusion, featured a distinguished lineup of speakers and organisations, including representatives from the Government of India, Thomas Cook India, Bank of Baroda, Reliance, Trifecta Capital, NITI Aayog, Emmay Entertainment, and Autodesk, among others. As the Luxury Jewellery Partner for the summit, Kumari Fine Jewellery added a touch of elegance and distinction to the event, reflecting its ethos of celebrating women who live beautifully and expressively.
Supriya Kataria was recognised for her powerful and authentic voice that has inspired action, created awareness, and amplified the stories of others. The “Voice of the Year” award honours individuals who embody courage, creativity, and conviction; qualities that resonate deeply with Supriya’s vision for Kumari and her leadership in redefining fine jewellery for modern Indian women. During her presentation at the summit, attended by over 100 industry leaders and delegates, Supriya spoke about Kumari Fine Jewellery’s journey, its design ethos, and its commitment to empowering women through expression and individuality. The Women Leaders Summit & Awards 2025 served as a powerful reminder that women are not just participating in change. They are leading it, one bold conversation at a time.
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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