New Delhi, Sept. 2 -- The rapid growth in India's gold loan market is increasingly being driven by higher gold prices and repeat borrowing by existing customers rather than a significant rise in new borrowers or the amount of gold being pledged, according to a Motilal Oswal thematic report on the gold loan sector.

The report said the combined quantity of gold pledged with Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance has remained around 260-265 tonnes over the past couple of years, while their combined customer base has stayed around 9 million despite a surge in loans outstanding.

"Recent AUM growth has thus been driven largely by higher gold valuations and repeat borrowings rather than new customer acquisition or incremental collateral mobili...