The Enforcement Directorate has frozen Rs 526 crore in bank deposits and seized gold jewellery worth Rs 3.5 crore along with Rs 11 lakh in cash after concluding searches in a money laundering case against online gaming platform Gameskraft.
Indian bank credit expanded by 16.08 per cent year-on-year in FY26, marking its fastest pace since FY24, while deposits grew by 13.47 per cent, according to RBI data. Experts caution that year-end figures may be inflated due to reporting date changes, but acknowledge strong momentum in corporate, MSME, and retail segments.
This may free up resources for productive or lending purposes.
'When we start describing somebody as an enemy that is the start of politics and emotion after which no business can take place.' 'We need to get out of this, allow Indian businessmen to do business with China.'
The country's two biggest state-run lenders on Saturday pitched for treating a portion of their gold deposits as part of the mandatory cash reserve ratio (CRR) or statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), both of which banks consider as non-productive.
From the financial year 2025-2026, the government has introduced a new column in the tax return form for presumptive taxpayers, requiring them to disclose their year-end investments. This requirement was not present last year.
Only 400 grams have been deposited so far.
The combined income of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his wife has doubled to Rs 35.16 crore in 2026, according to his election affidavit. The affidavit details the increase in movable and immovable assets of both Sarma and his wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma.
Deposit certificates will also be exempt from capital gains tax.
'An asset must generate income. Equities yield dividends, bonds pay coupons, deposits give interest, and real estate earns rent.' 'Gold, silver, and even Bitcoin produce no income, they merely store value. So, they should not be compared to productive assets.'
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its Financial Stability Report (FSR), cautioned that stress tests indicate two scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) may have to dip into their capital conservation buffers (CCBs), unless stakeholders infuse capital, under a scenario involving a gradual slowdown in domestic GDP growth and a moderate rise in inflation, with limited policy easing space available to the central bank.
The fear of losing purchasing power due to inflation and low-interest rates has led many to explore safe alternatives to fixed deposits with high returns
The retailers are also mulling putting a stop to selling of gold coins and gold bars to curtail investments made in gold, according to an official of trade body All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation.
Conversion into jewellery during redemption would entail 15-20% wastage and making charges, rendering the scheme inefficient
Govt proposes to introduce redeemable gold bonds.
Anil Rego, CEO, Right Horizons, answers your personal income tax queries.
'If you invest in sovereign gold bond, you are going to get the price rise of gold over an eight year period.' 'You're also going to get that two-and-a-half percent which the Government of India is willing to give you, treating the money that you've invested in the sovereign gold bond as a kind of a FD or a deposit.' 'That kind of return you can never get anywhere else.'
'From tariff tensions and border skirmishes to unrest in West Asia.' 'The worst may be behind us. But any further upmove will now have to come from earnings.'
Gold deposited by households to gold savings accounts will be used for auctioning, replenishment of RBI's gold reserves.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Nitin Narkhede your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Banks can also allow the depositors to deposit their gold directly with the refiners.
Finance Minister had announced the scheme in the Union Budget.
The Bureau of Indian Standards has certified 33 hallmarking centres in the country to act as collection and purity testing centres for the gold monetisation scheme.
'In most schemes, where the monthly investment is a fixed amount, investors run the risk of the price of gold rising during the tenure of the recurring deposit,' notes Harsh Roongta.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Nitin Narkhede your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
For the first time, consumers, including those at the so-called bottom of the pyramid, are monetising gold by taking loans from banks, offering the yellow metal as collateral, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
India has 20,000 tonnes of idle gold; gold is an important aspect of women empowerment: PM.
The government plans to borrow Rs 6 lakh crore in this financial year.
The recently approved government scheme provides both liquidity and returns.
In addition to interest rates, review the fine print for penalties and repayment terms, and select a reputable lender to avoid harsh recovery practices.
Only 21 tonnes of gold have been mobilised in the last eight years under the gold monetisation scheme (GMS) which was announced by the Government of India in November 2015. This could be considered as a failure as the scheme has undergone several changes with a revamped GMS announced in April 2021 to improve collections. This figure was released by the World Gold Council (WGC) on Wednesday in its report titled 'Gold Investment Market and Financialisation, in India gold market series'.
Gold schemes are offering attractive returns to investors.
Towards the end of February, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restored the risk weighting on banks loans to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs; including to microfinance institutions, or MFIs) to 100 - back to its November 2023 position - from 125. It is only a partial relief though. "Higher risk weighting on unsecured lending continues to be in place while the same on bank funding to NBFCs has been done away with. "This is a positive step by RBI," says Rajiv Sabharwal, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), Tata Capital.
The government should partner with commodity exchanges such as MCX.
Gold loans can be released online or by bank transfers.
The answer depends on your financial goals and risk appetite, says Certified Financial Planner Ramalingam Kalirajan, and explains why.
Buying had been muted in the past few weeks.
The RBI has changed the way it approached supervision in the past. Having seen a couple of collapses in the NBFC sector and the near-collapse of a few banks, it is focusing on regular drills to prevent a fire from breaking out, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
New gold schemes may perform better than previous plans: UBS.
People can deposit idle gold with authorised agencies and take advantage of the price escalation of gold as well as earn interest on the deposit.
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