What Does Gold Mean to Young Indians?

Dear Reader,

When Shikha moved homes, she lost the key to her bank locker and with it, easy access to all her gold. When she finally found it, she wept.

“Not because of the value, but because of all the memories attached to it,” the 40-year old trader told me. She remembered the bangle her naani gave her, the necklace her mom gifted her on her birthday. “Tomorrow when my daughter gets married, I’ll be passing everything, including the emotions.”

India’s bond with gold is no secret. Indian households hold about 11% of the world’s gold, much of it in the custody of women.

Gold’s prices have risen dramatically over the past decade, and particularly in the last year. That’s in part because of today’s global uncertainty, according to Varun Fatehpuria of private investment firm Daulat Finvest and Sachin Jain of World Gold Council.

Despite rising prices, Indians, including young ones, continue to buy gold. The only difference: where older generations bought jewellery or coins, younger ones prefer digital gold and ETFs.

“It’s very handy because you don’t have to worry about the security aspect,” said Maheshwari, a 27-year old corporate lawyer based in Mumbai.

Still, that doesn’t mean young Indians have abandoned physical gold. Zoyaa Azmi, a 20-year old student who’s been putting her small savings into ETFs says she plans to buy gold jewellery in the future.

“I’d like to keep it similar to my mother’s, because I’m very close to her. To feel more connected to her,” she told The Signal Brief. 

India has achieved remarkable progress in digital inclusion among developing nations. As that deepens, more Indians will move toward ETFs and digital gold. When inflation bites or headlines turn bleak, we still reach for gold, whether as bangles or bytes. 

Check out the latest episode of The Signal Brief to hear more stories like theirs. You can find us on Youtube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

I’d love to hear what you thought! Write to us at [email protected], or reach me directly on Instagram or Twitter at @thesignaldotco, or via email at [email protected].

Thanks for listening, and have a rejuvenating weekend.

Best,
Kudrat
on behalf of The Core

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