Ten rupees on a payments app now buys gold, a fraction of a gram, credited in seconds, no shop and no locker involved. That is digital gold: a way to buy and accumulate 24-karat gold online, with the seller storing an equivalent quantity of physical metal in a vault on the buyer's behalf. The convenience is real and the growth has been enormous, and so are the questions that should travel with it, about ownership, charges, tax and the absence of a regulator, questions this guide answers plainly. It also covers the one thing digital gold cannot do that physical gold can: serve as collateral for a Gold Loan with lenders such as IIFL Finance, which only physical jewellery and eligible coins may secure.

Silver has always been the household's second metal, bought at festivals, gifted at births, priced within reach. Its newest form drops the entry price further still. Digital silver lets a buyer purchase and accumulate silver online from small amounts, with the platform holding 999-purity physical metal in vaulted storage against the balance, per its stated arrangements. It is silver's answer to digital gold, growing on the same apps, and it carries the same mix of genuine convenience and questions worth asking before investing: about backing, charges, tax and regulation. This guide answers them, compares digital with physical silver, and notes where the physical form keeps an edge, including its acceptance as loan collateral with select regulated lenders, on the pledge principle behind products like the IIFL Finance Gold Loan.

Take the same loan twice, once over two years and once over five, and you get two different loans: the short one demands heavy EMIs but costs less overall, the long one sits lightly each month while quietly collecting more interest. That trade is the whole subject. Loan tenure is the period over which a loan is repaid, and choosing it is the single decision that most shapes both your monthly burden and your total cost. It matters on every product, from home loans measured in decades to the flexible short tenures of a Gold Loan from lenders such as IIFL Finance. This guide defines tenure, unpacks what it does to EMI and interest, and ends with a practical method for choosing yours.

Ninety days. That is the line, and everything about the term follows from it: a loan becomes an NPA, a Non-Performing Asset, when its repayment stays overdue past 90 days, at which point the lender must reclassify it under RBI norms and the borrower's troubles begin compounding. The rule applies across lending, and gold loans are no exception, though they come with clearer warnings and better exits than most. Understanding the classification ladder, the consequences, and the practical steps that keep an account regular, steps lenders such as IIFL Finance actively support through reminders and flexible schemes, is the cheapest financial protection a borrower can own. This guide covers all of it, in the order trouble arrives.

The rbi gold loan circular - full summary for borrowers explains the key changes introduced under the Reserve Bank of India’s revised Directions on lending against eligible gold collateral.

A Key Fact Statement, or KFS, is a standard loan summary that a lender provides before a gold loan agreement is executed.

The RBI uniform gold loan rules for banks and NBFCs introduce a harmonised regulatory framework for loans secured against eligible gold jewellery across regulated banks and eligible NBFCs, effective from 1 April 2026.

Silver loan banks India now include public sector banks, private sector banks and eligible Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) under the banking regulator’s unified framework for loans against precious metals. Borrowers can pledge eligible silver ornaments and specified silver coins, subject to prescribed purity standards, collateral limits, applicable loan-to-value (LTV) norms and each lender’s internal policies.

Understanding silver loan IBJA rate calculation explained makes it easier to see how lenders determine the value of pledged silver before calculating the eligible loan amount. Rather than depending solely on the prevailing market price, regulated lenders follow a structured valuation methodology that considers the prescribed reference price, the purity of the pledged silver, its net weight and the applicable loan-to-value (LTV) ratio under the RBI framework. This approach promotes consistency, transparency and a more uniform method of valuing eligible silver collateral.

Silver loan Assam facilities are becoming available through regulated banks and eligible NBFCs following the harmonised regulatory framework for loans against precious metals that came into effect in 2026.