CapitalVia
CapitalVia Research Desk ·
CapitalVia Global Research Limited
Data story
28 Sep 2026
Household finances · RBI Bulletin, Aug 2026

Indian households saved 13% more in 2025-26. They borrowed 36% more.

RBI's first estimates for 2025-26 show families put ₹42.9 lakh crore into financial assets — and took ₹21.4 lakh crore of fresh loans. The new borrowing went to homes, gold and cars. Not credit cards.

New debt vs new savings, 2025-26
₹50
of fresh borrowing
for every
₹100
added to financial assets
₹21.4 lakh cr borrowed₹42.9 lakh cr saved

That is ₹50.00 per ₹100, up from ₹41.42 in 2024‑25. Savings rose, but debt rose almost three times as fast — so net financial savings fell to 6.2% of GDP, from 7.0%.

What households added, borrowed and kept
Annual flows, ₹ lakh crore · 2025-26 is RBI's preliminary estimate
2024-252025-26
Added to financial assets+12.9%
FY25
38.00
FY26
42.90
Fresh borrowing+36.3%
FY25
15.74
FY26
21.45
Net financial savings (kept)−3.6%
FY25
22.26
FY26
21.45
Net savings shrank in rupees even as the economy grew: 7.0% → 6.2% of GDP.
Where each ₹100 of new bank personal loans went
Increase in outstanding, June 2025 → June 2026 (₹9.68 lakh crore in all)
Housing+11.0% YoY
₹34.8
Loans against gold jewellery+93.8% YoY
₹26.8
Other personal loans+14.2% YoY
₹22.7
Vehicle loans+17.3% YoY
₹11.5
Education+13.3% YoY
₹1.9
Advances against FDs+11.2% YoY
₹1.7
Credit card outstanding+1.9% YoY
₹0.6
Consumer-durable loans shrank slightly; loans against shares & bonds added under ₹0.1.
59 paise

Credit cards' share of every ₹100 of new bank personal loans in the year to June 2026. Gold loans took ₹26.77. A year ago banks' gold-loan book was smaller than their card book. Today it is 1.8× the size.

If you're salaried

The debt jump is mostly secured: homes, vehicles and jewellery made up ₹73 of every ₹100. A gold loan is sized to today's gold price, which was 52% higher in June than a year earlier. If the price falls, lenders can ask for more gold or a part-payment.

If you're a founder

Some of the demand you're seeing is borrowed. Household borrowing from NBFCs nearly doubled to ₹4.78 lakh crore in 2025-26 (+90.1%). And banks' personal loans were still growing 16.2% a year in July 2026, against 11.9% a year earlier.

If you set budgets

Households now owe 45.8% of GDP, up from 43.1% a year earlier and 39.1% in March 2023. New loans per ₹100 of new savings went from ₹41 to ₹50 in one year. Demand forecasts that assume credit keeps growing at this pace carry extra risk.

+93.8%
Bank gold-loan book, YoY (Jun 2026)
+52.4%
Gold price, Mumbai, Jun 2026 vs Jun 2025
+1.9%
Credit-card outstanding, YoY (Jun 2026)
45.8%
Household debt to GDP, Mar 2026
CapitalVia Global Research Limited

Sources: Reserve Bank of India, RBI Bulletin, August 2026 (released 25 August 2026), Current Statistics: Table 52(a), flow of financial assets and liabilities of households; Table 52(b), stocks of household assets and liabilities; Table 15, deployment of gross bank credit by major sectors (June 2026); Table 21, gold prices in Mumbai (India Bullion & Jewellers Association). RBI press release “Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit – July 2026”, 31 August 2026 (personal-loan growth, July 2026).

Estimates: All 2025-26 household figures are RBI preliminary estimates and will be revised when the NSO releases National Accounts Statistics; later RBI Bulletins may carry small revisions. GDP ratios use the new 2022-23 base, so they differ from older published ratios. Bank sectoral data are provisional and cover 41 select banks (about 95% of non-food credit). The “per ₹100” figures, the year-on-year changes in flows (+12.9%, +36.3%, −3.6%, +90.1%), the 1.8× ratio and the +52.4% gold-price change are CapitalVia calculations from RBI's published numbers; year-on-year growth rates for loan categories are RBI's own. Headline percentages are rounded (12.9% to 13%, 36.3% to 36%).

Note: “Added to financial assets” is RBI's gross household financial savings (deposits, insurance, pension and provident funds, mutual funds, small savings, currency). The personal-loan chart covers banks only; NBFC lending is not included. RBI notes that from May 2024 one bank reclassified some farm loans as gold loans; that change predates both June 2025 and June 2026, so it does not affect the year-on-year comparison. RBI's July 2026 release says gold-loan and credit-card growth has since decelerated.

A data explainer for general education. Not investment, tax or legal advice.
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