Ramesh also shared a media report indicating that gold loan portfolios of banks had risen by 71.3% year-on-year, reaching Rs 1.72 trillion by December of the current financial year. This was a significant increase compared to 17% growth the previous year. The rise in gold loans was attributed to the increasing price of gold and a slowdown in unsecured loans, following a rise in risk weights.He also shared another report showing that the credit market has added 22% more women borrowers annually between 2019 and 2024, adding four crore new women borrowers who lapped up Rs 4.7 trillion of debt against their gold jewellery.The Congress party also criticized the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme, which was launched by the Modi government with much fanfare, calling it a “fiasco,” much like demonetization and the ‘Make in India’ initiative.The Congress has been attacking the government over its handling of the economy, pointing out issues like rising prices, decreasing private investment, and stagnating wages that are hurting common people. Flagging issues of low consumption expenditure and inequality, the Congress on Friday had said the way out of this quagmire is to shift the focus of policymaking from cronyism to bottom-up empowerment and that it must begin with kick-starting rural incomes.
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