Is it a right time to invest in gold?

Last year gold prices hit a high of Rs 56,000 but this year it is being priced at a Rs 10,000 discount. Investors are often caught in the dilemma, if gold, considered a safe-haven investment so far, is the right kind of investment today. Money9 Helpline hosted IIFL Securities’ VP – Research, Anuj Gupta to resolve queries related to investing in gold.

Edited excerpts:

Sumana Sil Paul, Kolkata: I have invested in SGB since its inception in 2015. Since the price of gold is witnessing fluctuations, should I invest in SGB or look for other avenues to invest in gold?

Gupta: You have an example in front of you, when you bought gold in 2015, it was costing around Rs 24,00- Rs 25,000. Today the cost of gold is Rs 50,000. In 5 years the gold has almost given double returns. So, your portfolio has also doubled. I believe this positive trend will continue for gold in the future also. I will recommend you continue your investments in the gold bond. Ideally, if you keep it for 5-7 years you will see the returns double.

Rashi Khanna: My daughter is 15 years old, I want to invest to build a corpus for her marriage. Is it advisable to buy gold in physical form or via Kotak Securities through ETFs?

Gupta: Buying gold in physical form can be risky because I am assuming you want to keep it for another 10 years until your daughter’s marriage. So you can buy ETFs and transfer it to your Demat account, it will be safe. You can sell it when you need it.