Mumbai: Outstanding credit extended by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) against gold jewellery surged nearly 70 per cent year-on-year in May, marking the fastest growth among all lending segments, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday.Outstanding loans against gold jewellery stood at Rs 3.29 lakh crore at the end of May 2026, up 69.9 per cent from Rs 1.94 lakh crore a year earlier.Within the retail loan portfolio, housing loans, vehicle loans, and loans against gold jewellery registered robust growth during the month, with overall retail credit rising 19.5 per cent year-on-year in May, compared with 14.9 per cent in the year-ago period.Apart from gold loans, outstanding credit to the commercial sector by NBFCs recorded the second-highest growth, rising 40.2 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1.19 lakh crore in May from Rs 85,317 crore a year ago.Credit to agriculture and allied activities also remained strong, registering a 17.9 per cent year-on-year growth in May 2026, sharply higher than the 5.0 per cent growth recorded in the corresponding month last year.Loan growth to the industrial sector moderated to 7.3 per cent in May from 10.0 per cent a year ago, primarily due to slower growth in lending to infrastructure, the RBI data showed.Similarly, credit growth to the services sector eased to 16.7 per cent year-on-year from 23.9 per cent in May 2025.