Although gold is in demand with weddings during the holiday season, the yellow metal in its physical form may not be the preferred choice of the people of Dhanteras and Diwali to bring prosperity to their homes, according to bankers and business analysts.

Instead, those who wish to gain exposure to gold can turn to gold exchange traded funds, as there is no need to worry about risk factors such as theft, the purity, illiquidity and storage costs associated with holding the metal in physical form.

After the pandemic, people are looking for instruments that can be sold immediately to generate cash in an emergency, and gold ETFs can be sold at any time during trading hours on the exchanges.

Additionally, many Indians who have not been able to enjoy a vacation for over a year and a half due to Covid-19 may splurge on vacation this holiday season rather than using the money to buy gold as they usually do.

“As the Covid restrictions are lifted, people want to get out of their homes and go on vacation. They want to spend money on it,” said Sekhar Bhandari, president and CEO of Global Transactions and Metals valuable at Kotak Mahindra Bank. “Plus, the general psyche of people is changing. They would buy white goods that they intended to buy to usher in the holiday season. Plus, 2021 is not the year of gold. C This is the year for stocks. Gold did not give positive returns in 2021 and the returns are only boosting demand. ” He added, “This holiday season people will be investing in holidays, stocks, white goods and some in gold.”

Bhandari said there will be a request related to the marriage this year. And that should be quite significant as many weddings have been postponed since the start of this year due to the second wave of Covid-19.

Bhargav Vaidya, a gold trade analyst, said it’s always best to invest in gold sovereign bonds or gold ETFs. The physical gold market operates at different prices in different geographies. In addition, the buy and sell rates are different in order to cover liquidation and other costs incurred in trading physical gold, he pointed out.

Globally, gold ETFs account for 35% of total gold demand, up from 8% a decade ago. Retail investors in India have also become accustomed to gold ETFs, as can be corroborated by a threefold increase in the number of gold ETF folios over the past year.