Published Paper Details:

Investment in gold is always a preferred choice for Indians. There is an unquenchable demand for gold among Indians and the demand for gold has increased over the years. Recently, the Indian government increased the import duty of gold and this can impact the demand for gold among consumers. However it is arguable that this could make any significant impact among the retail investors who want to possess gold for long term in non-physical form like gold ETFs. While physical gold has lot of costs involved such as cost of depreciation, pilferage and transaction, the retail investor can save on such costs and efficiently plough money back into gold ETFs. The investment on gold ETFs has gradually increased in the last decade. Market analysts suggest gold ETFs to be part of investment portfolio to mitigate market risks. As India has undergone radical changes in the economy for last few years, the research attempts to find how investment in gold ETFs have gained momentum from 2014 and how comparable are the risks and rewards of gold ETFs with physical gold. 5 popular gold ETFs are taken for the study and a SWOT analysis is made based on their efficiency and performance in comparison with physical gold. The analysis reveals that the gold ETFs lack in certain aspects which can affect investors� perception on gold ETFs and can enable them to carefully consider the option of investing in gold ETFs.