MUMBAI, May 11 -- The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) tighter gold loan rules are likely to slow growth in one of South Indian Bank's fastest-growing businesses, with the lender saying the new rules could constrain how much demand it can meet.

"The revised RBI guidelines will have a certain amount of impact on how much business we can do," managing director and chief executive officer P. R. Seshadri told Mint.

The new framework, effective 1 April, requires lenders to classify gold loans as either 'income generating' or for 'consumption purposes', with the latter capped at Rs.2.5 lakh. The norms also tighten loan-to-value (LTV) ratios, introduce stricter verification requirements, impose 12-month limits on bullet repayments and set timelin...