New Delhi, Aug. 25 -- Large jewellery retailers are only the latest, after banks and non-bank finance companies (NBFCs), to get into the game. In a reversal of past practice, when major jeweller chains like Tanishq and Kalyan would only let customers exchange old gold for new jewellery, they have lately been offering customers cash for their old gold, a service traditionally associated with small 'family jewellers.'

This could be seen as a case of corporate jewellers, hit by rising global gold prices and higher import duties, moving into a field of high demand. Their shift seems in consonance with a sharp increase in gold loans by banks and NBFCs witnessed in recent months.

According to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) June 2026 Financ...