Can I still buy Sovereign Gold Bonds?+
No. No new SGB tranche has been issued since February 2024 and no new issuance calendar has been announced, so SGBs are not a currently available investment. Bonds already issued continue to run to maturity, and the RBI still publishes premature-redemption windows for them — permitted after five years from the issue date.
Is digital gold regulated in India?+
Not as a securities product. SEBI issued a public caution in November 2025 stating that digital gold is not offered through SEBI-regulated gold products, and neither RBI nor SEBI regulates it under a dedicated framework. As of September 2026, the government is reported to be considering RBI/SEBI oversight with a 1:1 physical-backing requirement, but no official framework has been notified. Physical gold, gold ETFs, gold funds and EGRs each have their own, different framework.
What is an Electronic Gold Receipt?+
An EGR is an exchange-traded security that represents a defined quantity of standardised gold held with a SEBI-registered vault manager. It sits in a demat account like a share, trades on the exchange with public price discovery, and can be converted to physical gold through the prescribed process. Exchange-listed denominations run from 10 mg to 1 kg in 999 and 995 purity.
Gold ETF or gold mutual fund — what is the difference?+
Both give gold exposure without metal in hand. A gold ETF is a listed scheme whose units you buy on the exchange in a demat account; its price can drift from NAV when the scheme is thinly traded. A gold mutual fund is an unlisted fund of fund that you buy and redeem at NAV, which is what makes a monthly SIP straightforward — but it carries its own expense ratio on top of the underlying ETF's. Neither is better in the abstract; the trade-off is demat-plus-exchange execution against SIP convenience and a second layer of cost.
How much GST do I pay when buying gold jewellery?+
Gold metal attracts 3% GST. Making charges attract 5% when they are billed separately. If a jeweller bills a single composite price for ready-made jewellery, the whole bill carries 3%. Buy-sell spreads and making charges usually matter more to your eventual return than the GST rate.
How is gold taxed in India?+
This is framework, not filing advice. The Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 removed indexation and set a uniform 12.5% long-term capital gains rate. The default long-term holding test is 24 months, and listed securities use a 12-month test — so listed gold ETFs are long-term after 12 months while unlisted gold fund units use 24 months. Jewellery is a capital asset, not a personal effect, so it is taxed on the same capital-gains basis. Exchange-traded derivatives are generally treated as business income at slab rates. Confirm your position with a tax adviser.
Which gold investment gives the best return?+
There is no single answer, and we do not rank gold products. Most gold instruments track the same metal price, so returns differ mainly by the costs you pay to hold them: expense ratios, making charges, storage, spreads and taxes. Use the comparison to filter by what you actually need and the calculators to price the costs, then decide.
Does LetsInvest show live gold prices?+
No. LetsInvest has no gold price, NAV or market-data feed, so nothing on this site is a live quote and we do not pretend otherwise. The calculators run entirely on inputs you enter, and the product information is framework facts with a dated source.
