Investing in gold? Nikhil Kamath lauds yellow metal, surpassed equity returns in past 2 years globally | Mint
Source: Live Mint
Most investors consider gold safe haven, and investing in it generally gives an assurance of sorts that the money is safely locked in a reliable asset. This is not expected to deliver extraordinary returns just like equity. But perception can be different from reality. In the case of gold, it indeed is.
In a latest post by Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha and True Beacon, asserts that gold has outperformed equities globally in the past two years, while India is an outlier. This means that it’s only in India that the premium of return on gold over equities is negative, albeit marginally. He also mentioned that these returns happened without much volatility.
“The crazy thing about gold is these returns are on the back of significantly lower volatility,” Kamath mentioned.
Two-year-returns
Two-year CAGR returns given by gold in India are 12.5 percent whereas the corresponding returns in other countries are 11.3 percent in Japan, 14.6 per cent in Brazil, 10.6 percent in UK, 9.3 per cent in France, 10 percent in Malaysia, 8.8 percent in China, 9.4 percent in US, 14.4 percent in South Africa and 12.5 percent in India.
The excess returns of gold over equity in the past two years are 6.7 percent in Japan, 6.4 percent in Brazil, 6.3 percent in the UK, 5.1 percent in France, 3.6 per cent in Malaysia, 3.2 percent in China, 1.6 percent in the US and 1.2 percent in South Africa.
It’s only In India, these returns are negative — 0.9 percent.
10-month high
In just under two months of the current calendar year, spot gold prices have already hit 10-month highs, with the latest peak reaching $2,886 per troy ounce in the previous trading session, bringing year-to-date (YTD) gains to 10%.
In the domestic market, gold prices surged past ₹85,000 per 10 grams, setting a new record at ₹85,279 per 10 grams—an increase of nearly 11% in 2025. Meanwhile, retail prices soared to ₹86,670 on Friday.
The unstoppable run in gold prices is indicating that investors and consumers are shifting their wealth away from risky assets, such as stocks, to gold, which is considered a safe-haven asset.
