One of India’s favourite precious metal is gold and is used for multiple purposes such as as investments, raising loans, jewellery and so forth.
Availing loans by pledging gold ornaments and jewellery at financial institutions is very common.
As is the fact of households being known to stash their family gold in bank lockers for safe keeping.
Though these are generally safe avenues as far as your gold is concerned, recent events may raise concerns.
Apart from gold, may customers hold property documents, investment certificates and the like.
A few days ago, a customer complained that gold worth ₹60 lakh was missing from the locker maintained with a leading public sector bank.
Police investigation is underway in the case with no clear culprit identified yet.
Late last year, an NRI customer found that her gold coins and jewellery were missing from a leading private bank’s locker in a Chennai branch.
The case was finally cracked by the police and the bank official was arrested.
More recently, a woman who had pledged her gold ornaments for loans and came to redeem them after repayment found several pieces missing.
The police investigated and found that the public sector bank’s assistant manager was skimming small portions of gold pledged by customers for loans.
While some of these cases had happy closures, as a bank locker or gold loan customer, you must be aware of the steps to take after a loss, your potential liabilities and compensation in the case of a loss.
We discuss these aspects alongside locker and jewellery insurance to cover potential losses.
Customer recourse
Let us take the case of gold or any other valuable items going missing from your locker.
It is assumed, as a customer, your locker operations are active (regularly used) and the annual rent is paid. The locker agreement (between the bank and the customer) is assumed to be current and active.
As a customer, you must also be aware that the bank employees would not be aware of the contents you keep in your locker. The employee who accompanies you to your locker opens it with the bank key and leaves the room immediately.
In case you notice gold or other valuables missing during your visits, you must inform the bank manager immediately. A written report from your side detailing the locker contents is necessary. You must also formally request for CCTV access.
It is also advisable to have pictures of your gold jewellery or other valuables as they are placed in the locker periodically to support your claims.
The bank will conduct an inquiry into the matter. However, the bank is liable for compensation only if a clear lapse is established in its security infrastructure or in case of employee misdemeanour.
In addition to the bank manager, you must also get the police involved. Filing an FIR (First Information Report) is necessary.
The police will then conduct their own investigation into the matter within and outside the bank.
In case your gold jewellery or valuables are not recovered after establishing that you indeed did keep them in the locker, and a lapse is established from the bank’s side, you will be entitled to compensation.
However, the compensation amount has no relation to the value of your jewellery or other precious items you stored in the locker.
The amount is restricted to 100 times the annual rent amount paid by you for the bank locker.
So, the maximum relief you can get if you pay ₹5,000 as annual rent is ₹5 lakh even if your valuables may be worth a lot more. You will henceforth have to bear the losses in such cases.
Then there is the case of gold going missing when pledged to a bank for a loan.
So, while redeeming your gold, if you notice pieces missing, you must immediately inform the bank or NBFC branch manager.
As it is the lending institution’s responsibility to safely store your gold in the original form as received during the pledging process, the onus lies with the bank or NBFC to compensate. The bank itself would have pictures of the pledged gold, though, it would be a good idea to have the images with you.
It would also be better to file an FIR with the police in this case.
If the lost gold is not retrievable, the bank or NBFC is obliged to pay the current market value of the jewellery that went missing going by recent judicial precedents.
You can approach the RBI ombudsman, and later the courts, if you find the bank unresponsive.
One critical aspect to note is that the RBI expressly prohibits holding cash in lockers. If any cash in a locker is lost, the bank would not pay any compensation. You will have to hope for the police to find the culprits in such cases.
Insuring valuables
If you choose to keep gold or jewellery in your bank locker, you can take an insurance policy to secure your valuables. In addition to theft, the jewellery insurance covers loss due to earthquakes, floods, fire and other natural disasters that can cause damage to lockers at bank branches leading to loss of contents.
IFFCO-Tokio offers an exclusive bank locker protector policy. HDFC Ergo, Oriental Insurance and SBI General cover jewellery loss due to theft, fraud, natural disasters and so forth.
You can get your gold valued by a jeweller and provide the details to your insurer at the time of taking the policy. Pictures of the jewellery may also be useful or even compulsory in some cases.
One point to note is if you receive compensation from your insurer for any jewellery lost and if the valuables are later found by the police or bank and handed back to you, there is an obligation on you to return the amount to the insurer.
Published on February 21, 2026
