Mumbai, Oct. 21 -- After two years of a golden run, India's gold loan market could be showing signs of strain. With the precious metal's prices retreating and households taking on more debt, some of the country's leading non-bank lenders are flagging early repayment troubles, raising concerns about the risks building up in one of the fastest-growing lending segments.

Bajaj Finance and Piramal Finance, major players in the non-banking finance space, flagged risks linked to borrowers' repayment behaviour in the second quarter of the current fiscal year. While Bajaj has seen stress in asset quality from short-tenure gold loans, Piramal Finance warned that a significant share of industry disbursements has gone to borrowers with a history of ...