Digital Gold

Digital gold is emerging as a choice for those who want to invest in gold solely for the purpose of investing. Investors who want to park their funds for a short-term too are getting attracted to buying digital gold as it is relatively stable and can provide a passive income.

Here are some ways in which digital gold can be bought.

 Gold ETFs

Exchange traded funds is basically a mutual fund whose units can be bought from stock exchanges. There are various asset management companies (AMCs) that have their own gold ETFs like SBI Gold ETF, AXIS Gold ETF, Nippon Gold ETF, among others.

ETFs are a way to invest in gold in small quantities.

These are optimum for investors who want to buy gold in small quantities and keep it in a demat format. 

These AMCs invest the money in 99.5 purity gold making it a safe investment.

This is a good option for investors like students who have small capital and wish to have an allocation in gold.

Gold has been a popular go-to asset for Indians for several decades now. And why not? It is perhaps one of the few assets that does not lose its value over time.

However, this asset is mostly held in physical form - jewellery, bars, and coins - which gives rise to several challenges regarding storage and security. Accordingly, many investors have been looking for a better alternative and have managed to find an ideal match in digital gold. There is a lot of speculation among investors concerning whether digital gold can emerge as a better alternative. Of course, the answer to this question is subjective. Then again, it's suggested to take a close look at the difference in concept and approach towards physical and digital gold investment to gain a better idea.

Digital Gold: These can be purchased through various apps in denominations starting from 1 gram onwards.

Gold ETFs: Gold Exchange Traded Funds are traded on stock exchanges just like shares and primarily feature Physical Gold and stocks of Gold mining/refining as the primary underlying assets. A Demat (Dematerialised) Account is mandatory for investing in Gold ETFs.

Sovereign Gold Bonds: These bonds are periodically released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and available for purchase through leading public and private sector banks. While these bonds are guaranteed by the Government of India and pegged to the price of gold, they actually do not have physical gold as an underlying asset.

Do keep in mind that while the performance of all the above examples of Gold as an investment is linked to the price of Gold, there are significant differences between them in terms of risk, returns, availability, liquidity, lock-in period, and taxation.