India’s equity investors are flocking to gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as a hedge against stock market volatility amid global headwinds.
Gold ETFs saw record monthly net inflows of ₹11,646.74 crore in December, surpassing inflows into flexi-cap funds, which received ₹10,019.27 crore, showed data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). Flexi-cap funds are open-ended equity mutual funds that invest across large-, mid-, and small-cap companies.
Earlier, in September also, gold ETFs touched record inflows of ₹8,363 crore.
“Stellar returns generated by precious metals over the past year have attracted investments into gold through asset allocation funds,” said Mahesh Patil of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd.
In demand
The metal’s returns have outpaced those of equity over a one- to five-year horizon amid global tariff tensions, a falling dollar, and recent geopolitical developments, such as the US takeover of Venezuela, which have boosted the appeal of the yellow metal.
For instance, the highly popular Nippon India ETF Gold BeES, priced at ₹113.5 per unit, has delivered a 73.52% return over the past year, compared with the Nifty 50’s 9.38% return, with the index trading at 25,716 at the time of writing.
Amid the precious metals rally, commodity expert Jim Rogers told Mint in December that he expects returns to moderate in 2026. “I own both gold and silver and am not selling, but I doubt if they will have two years in a row like that,” he said. Nippon India Silver ETF, meanwhile, returned 162% at ₹228.34 a unit during the same period.
Meanwhile, total monthly net inflows into equity mutual funds fell slightly to ₹28,034 crore in December, compared with ₹29,893 crore in November, highlighting the growing investor preference for gold amid uncertainty.
