Muthoot Finance Ltd. expects robust loan growth of around 15%, driven by strong demand for gold loans, the company’s Managing Director, George Alexander Muthoot, said on Aug. 14. He revealed that factors such as tighter unsecured credit availability, rising gold prices and favourable regulatory changes have supported the company’s recent growth trajectory.
While maintaining FY26 guidance at 15% loan growth, the top executive noted that Muthoot Finance has consistently exceeded guidance. Speaking to NDTV Profit, he said, “Over the last five, six years, we have always guided the market in the first two quarters at 15%. We usually make a change only after the second quarter. Last year, we guided for 15%, and we did 40%. Prior to that, we again guided 15%; we reported 25% growth. So, we always overdone what we have guided. At this point, I wouldn’t want to change the guidance, but I’m pretty sure we should be doing much better.”
On the company’s strong results for Q1FY26, Muthoot attributed the development to three key factors: rising demand for gold loans, higher gold prices enhancing borrowing capacity and recent RBI regulations. He explained that the tightening of unsecured credit by banks and NBFCs has pushed people towards gold loans, which is contributing to the company’s growth.
“The regulator has been cautioning all banks and NBFCs to reduce unsecured lending and even credit card loans. As a result, the availability of funding has been low over the past two to three quarters. Consequently, people have increasingly turned to gold loans and are now showing interest in leveraging their ornaments to access credit,” he said.
The MD also noted that the RBI’s simplified norms for gold loans up to Rs 2.5 lakh have been favourable. “The new regulations introduced about a month ago are, in my view, quite favourable to the gold loan business. They support both customers and lenders. For instance, loans up to Rs 2.5 lakh can now be given with minimal formalities, which aligns with what customers truly need,” he noted.
In Q1FY26, Muthoot Finance reported its highest-ever consolidated net profit in a quarter with a 65% year-on-year rise at Rs 1,974 crore from Rs 1,196 crore in Q1FY25. The company also achieved its highest-ever consolidated loan AUM, with a 37% YoY surge to Rs 1,33,938 crore as of June 30, 2025, compared to Rs 98,048 crore a year ago. Gold loan AUM also hit a record high, registering a 40% YoY growth at Rs 1,13,194 crore. The company’s interest income rose sharply by 45% to Rs 6,288 crore in Q1FY26, from Rs 4,348 crore in the year-ago period.
Shares of Muthoot Finance closed 9.75% higher at Rs 2,754 apiece on the NSE on Thursday, compared to the benchmark Nity50 settling nearly flat at 24,631.3, up 0.05%.
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