RBI not to tighten gold loan norms but rationalise it: Sanjay Malhotra

Mumbai: Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday said the proposed guidelines on gold loan are not going to tighten such lending but rationalise it.

"The (draft) guidelines will be issued soon. To our mind, there is no tightening. It is a rationalisation only. It's broadly on the conduct side, primarily, whatever were the guidelines for NBFCs, those have been extended now to the banking sector also," he said during a media interaction here.

The RBI will publish draft guidelines for the consultation and then based on feedback it will be finalised.

Earlier in the day, the governor, while unveiling first bi-monthly monetary policy for the current financial year, said loans against the collateral of gold jewellery and ornaments, commonly known as gold loans, are extended by regulated entities for both consumption and income-generation purposes.

To harmonise guidelines across various types of regulated entities, to the extent possible, keeping in view their differential riskbearing capabilities, we shall issue comprehensive regulations on prudential norms and conduct-related aspects for such loans, he said.