Gold is highly valued for thousands of years. Its perpetual value remains significant in our society, be it culturally or on economic front, as it hedges against inflation and provide financial cover during the period of crisis.

Today, diverse palettes of gold like rose gold, white gold, black gold etc., are available in addition to the classic yellow gold. Likewise, diverse investment options are also available today in addition to the tradition way of buying physical gold in the form of jewellery or coins.

Gold Funds are mutual fund scheme investing in Gold Exchange Traded Funds. Instead of buying physical gold, investor can conveniently invest in Gold Fund. There is no requirement for a demat account with added advantage of liquidity.

Gold ETF is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the domestic physical gold price and invest in gold bullion. For investing in Gold ETF directly, investor should have a demat account.

Another option is to invest in Sovereign Gold Bonds issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on behalf of government. A fixed rate of 2.5 per cent per annum is applicable on the SGBs, payable semi-annually. The gold bond scheme comes with a tenure of eight years, with an exit option after the fifth year. The interest on gold bonds is taxable. However, the capital gains arising out of redemption are exempted for individual investors.