In recent years, gold and silver prices have rarely rallied in unison as they are doing now. In India spot silver prices have rallied more than 40% in 12 months, while gold prices have grown by more than 30%. This has triggered great interest in both gold and silver ETFs (Exchange Traded Fund).

Both gold ETF and silver ETF track the prices of the metal in the market. Silver ETFs are a recent phenomenon with capital market regulator SEBI giving its green signal to silver ETFs in September 2021. But gold ETFs debuted in India long ago – in 2007. It was known as Gold BeES. One needs a demat account to invest in both ETFs.

Best performing silver ETFs

Silver ETFs are exchange traded funds that one can buy and sell on stock exchanges with the help of a demat account. The price of one unit of ETF actually closely reflects the price of metallic silver. Do you have any idea of the returns silver ETFs have generated in India recently? Consider the following data:

• UTI Silver ETF: 32.8% (1-year return)
• Aditya Birla Sun Life Silver ETF: 31.89% (1-year return)
• DSP Silver ETF: 31.62% (1-year return)
• ICICI Prudential Silver ETF: 31.55% (1-year return)
• Kotak Silver ETF: 31.47% (1-year return)
• Mira Asset Silver ETF: 31.36% (1-year return)
• Nippon India Silver ETF: 31.26% (1-year return)
• HDFC Silver ETF: 30.80% (1-year return)

Best performing Gold ETFs

Like their silver counterparts, gold ETFs are passively managed mutual fund schemes that pool money to invest in gold bullion. Like silver they track domestic price of metallic gold closely. There are 17 gold ETFs in India. Consider their returns:

• LIC MF Gold ETF: 17.57% (3-year returns)
• Nippon India ETF Gold BeES: 16.91% (3-year returns)
• HDFC Gold ETF: 14.84% (3-year returns)
• SBI Gold ETF: 13.29% (3-year returns)

Gold and Silver have no weakness

“Two important factors are working in favour of precious metals now. One, the high probability of getting superior returns. Two, the importance of using these precious metals as a portfolio diversifier. ETFs are a smart way of investing in metals. Debt has limitations, equities suffer from volatility but you can only add strength with gold and silver. Constant allocation of 12-15% in precious metals is very important,” Nilanjan Dey, director, Wishlist Capital told News9live.

(This article is only meant to provide information. News9 does not recommend buying or selling shares or subscriptions of any IPO or mutual funds.)