Gold-Silver vs Equity: The rise in gold and silver rapidly attracted investors and the equity market became dim in front of its shine. Last month in January, there was a net investment of ₹ 33,503 crore in Gold ETFs and Silver ETFs, while only ₹ 24,013 crore was invested in equity mutual funds during this period. This has been revealed by the data of mutual fund body AMFI. Talking separately, investment of ₹ 24,050 crore came in Gold ETFs alone, which was almost double the investment of ₹ 11,647 crore in December. Whereas, investment of ₹ 9,463 crore came in Silver ETF last month. Talking about other ETFs, there was heavy investment in thematic and index related products in January, which increased from ₹ 13,199 crore in the month of December to ₹ 15,006 crore.
Slow pace of investment in equity funds
Last month, investors’ sentiment towards ETFs appeared strong. At the same time, there was slowdown in equity mutual funds and there was 14% less investment as compared to the month of December. Inflows into large-cap funds stood at ₹2,005 crore last month, compared to ₹1,567 crore in December. On the other hand, investment in mid-cap funds decreased to ₹3,185 crore and investment in small-cap funds decreased to ₹2,942 crore. However, investment in sectoral and thematic funds increased from ₹946 crore to ₹1,043 crore. Whereas monthly SIP remained stable at ₹31,002 crore.
What do experts say?
The shine of gold has increased across the world and this increased the demand for gold ETFs. According to World Gold Council data, the investment in gold ETFs in January alone is 12.5% of its total AUM (Assets Under Management) in the country. According to analysts, the increasing interest of investors as a hedge to protect against macroeconomic uncertainty, market decline and fluctuations has increased its shine. Rochan Patnaik, Chief Investment Officer, Choice AMC, says that after strong gains in the year 2025 and early 2026, when gold-linked ETFs declined, investors considered it a buying opportunity. He believes that it is being continuously supported by limited supply growth, persistence of geo-political risks and stable demand from central banks. He believes that investors should keep 10-15% of their portfolio in it.
Varun Gupta, CEO of Groww Mutual Fund, says that the pace of investment in equity funds has slowed down, but investor interest in many scheme categories remains strong. He says gold ETFs have outperformed equity funds, which shows that gold and silver are now becoming more accepted in financials as mainstream portfolio assets.
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