Shine or Invest? CA’s Guide to Choosing Between Gold Jewellery and Gold ETFs

 

Gold has long been the symbol of tradition and prosperity in India, but is jewellery purchase synonymous with investment in gold? CA Nitin Kaushik has only recently joined the debate, urging investors to see through the glamour and assess the real monetary impact of their purchases.

 

Key Highlights:

 

•⁠  ⁠Jewellery vs. Investment: Gold jewellery is typically bought for tradition and decoration, but wastage and making charges can cause a direct loss—some ₹12,000 on every ₹1 lakh spent—money that will never be seen again.

 

•⁠  ⁠Liquidity and Transparency: Gold ETFs are very liquid, and it is possible to buy or sell them within trading hours without any issue of making charges or resale issues.

 

•⁠  ⁠Tax Efficiency: Income derived from gold ETFs, which are held for more than three years, is taxed at 20% with indexation benefit and is hence more tax-efficient than physical gold.

 

•⁠  ⁠Returns Comparison: Gold ETFs offer market-linked, transparent returns, whereas jewellery returns are volatile and often brought down by resale deductions and other invisible expenses.

 

•⁠  ⁠Emotional Attachment: Buying jewelry tends to be emotionally motivated, and this can obscure investment-making and cut down on real financial returns.

 

Prospects: For individuals who want to truly "make their money shine," gold ETFs give a smarter, more affordable, and most crucially, financially profitable way of investing in gold. While jewelry will continually be valuable because of its history, gold ETFs are the clear method of building wealth and mobility in 2025.

 

Sources: India Today, Financial Express