Gold Loans, Compared Like a Researcher: 18 Lenders, One Honest Table

Two different numbers get called "per gram", and confusing them is the most common reason a borrower walks out of a branch disappointed. The first is what a gram is worth. The second is what a gram will lend — always lower, because the RBI caps how much of the metal's value any lender may advance.

At today's reference of ₹14,943 per gram of 24K (updated 2026-10-10), those two numbers look like this by purity:

The two weights where your LTV steps down

There is no single loan-to-value cap. Under the RBI's framework for consumption gold loans the ceiling is tiered by ticket size: up to 85% on loans of ₹2.5 lakh or less, 80% up to ₹5 lakh, and 75% above that. Crucially a tier only applies if the loan it produces stays inside that tier's own ceiling — so the tier is decided by the size of the loan, not chosen by you.

Translated into jewellery at today's price, that gives two step-down points. Pledge up to about 21 grams of 22K and the 85% tier is reachable. Between roughly 21 and 45 grams you fall to 80%. Past about 45 grams the 75% cap binds.

The practical consequence is counter-intuitive: pledging more gold can lower the proportion you are advanced. A household needing somewhere near ₹2.5 lakh is usually better off carrying just enough jewellery to stay inside the 85% tier than emptying the locker — and for larger needs, two smaller pledges can beat one large one, provided the second lender's pricing holds up and you can service both.

What common pledge weights actually raise

The ladder below runs today's 22K figure across the weights people usually bring in. The right-hand column names the tier that actually applies at that weight.

Why your branch figure will be lower than this table

Every number above assumes pure gold weight at the reference price. Three deductions stand between it and your sanction letter, and none of them is negotiable:

• Stones, enamel and beads weigh nothing to a lender. A kundan or temple-work piece can lose 20–40% of its gross weight the moment the appraiser separates metal from decoration. Plain bangles and chains lose almost nothing, which is why they are the most efficient thing to pledge.
• Appraised purity governs, not the receipt. A hallmarked 916 piece will test at 22K. Older or unhallmarked work regularly appraises a karat or two lower, and that judgement — made at the counter, in front of you — resets the whole calculation.
• The reference price is not your lender's price. Most lenders use an internal rate, often a 30-day average rather than the spot rate, precisely so that a one-day spike does not inflate advances. In a rising market this makes your figure slightly conservative; in a falling one, slightly generous.

Per-lender per-gram figures, including how each one treats purity and stones, are on the per-gram pages linked from the tables above. The daily reference is on our gold rate today page, with city-wise variation.

Gold loan eligibility is unusual in Indian lending because it is not really about you. There is no income test, no employer category, no credit score gate. The pledge is the underwriting. That is precisely why gold lending serves households that every other product turns away — the self-employed with irregular receipts, the first-time borrower with no file, the borrower whose score was damaged years ago.

What the lender does check:

• Purity floor. Most lenders accept 18K and above. Below that the piece is usually refused outright rather than discounted, so a 14K import or a heavily alloyed older piece may not be pledgeable anywhere.
• Ornaments, not bullion. Jewellery is standard. Gold coins are accepted by many lenders but typically capped — commonly at 50 grams per borrower, and only bank-issued coins. Bars are widely refused. Silver is a different product entirely.
• Ownership. You must own what you pledge. Third-party gold, even a close relative's, requires that relative to be a co-borrower or to pledge it themselves. Lenders ask, and a false answer is the one thing that can turn a gold loan into a criminal matter.
• KYC and age. PAN and Aadhaar, and typically 18 to 70–75 years. That is the whole file.

The minimum-grams question

Eligibility has a floor at the bottom too, and it is set by the lender's minimum loan size rather than by any rule about weight. Across the lenders tracked here those minimums run from ₹1,000 at the NBFC end to ₹50,000 at some bank counters. Converted at today's 22K advance of ₹10,266 per gram, that means a ₹1,000 minimum needs well under a gram, while a ₹50,000 minimum needs roughly 5 grams. If you have one small chain and a modest need, an NBFC or a gold-belt private bank will transact where a large bank will simply decline the ticket as too small to process.

What eligibility does not protect you from

Being approved is not the same as being safe. Because the loan is secured on an appreciating asset, borrowers routinely take more than they need and roll it over, and the interest quietly compounds against jewellery that was never meant to be working capital. Two disciplines are worth more than any rate comparison: borrow for a defined purpose with a defined repayment date, and know the price at which your lender would issue a margin call if gold falls. Our auction risk calculator shows that threshold for your own pledge.

If your need is longer-term or your gold is limited, compare against an unsecured option before pledging — the personal loan guides run the same arithmetic without the collateral, and for borrowers with a weak credit file our low CIBIL score guides set out what each band can realistically access.