Indians Pawn Gold For Loans As Borrowing From Banks Becomes Tougher

Umesh Patil, a farmer in western India, pawned 40 grams of gold jewellery to raise Rs 1,30,000 to buy supplies needed to plant his next crop. Many Indians are using gold to secure loans, bankers and industry experts say, as banks are otherwise increasingly unwilling to lend during the coronavirus pandemic due to fear of the loan souring. "State-run banks were seeking lots of documents for crop loans and furnishing them all wasn't pos...