Blogs
Gold: Why it shines
Posted by Amit Bhandari on

Gold is one of the two ways to preserve wealth across generations, and an asset that holds it value in times of uncertainty and unrest. Gold prices have crossed yet another high in January 2025, crossing Rs 83,000/10 grams, up nearly 30% over the past year. If not for the 9% cut in customs duty in July 2024, the price would have been past Rs 90,000. Gold has long been favored by Indians to preserve wealth across generations – as per the World Gold Council estimates, Indian households hold an estimated 24,000 tons of gold – at the current market...
- Tags: Coin, Coins, Gold, hyperinflation, Inflation, Investing, Investment, Stock Market, Zimbabwe
Silver Beats Stocks: Investing in Times of Turbulence
Posted by Amit Bhandari on

This article was originally featured in the Deccan ChronicleRising demand from solar power and electrical sectors has pushed up silver prices, making it an attractive investment avenue. Investors can invest in physical silver (via bars and coins) or exchange traded funds. The past few months been a nightmare for equity investors – with the benchmark Nifty delivering a return of just 5% over the past year. This has been ascribed to a host of factors – slowdown in the Indian economy, foreign investors withdrawing funds, shifting of assets to the US in anticipation of Trump tariffs. The bottomline – equity markets...
Gold vs Stock Market
Posted by Amit Bhandari on

Is the Indian stock market over-valued? The answer may vary, depending on who you ask, and whether they are invested or holding cash. However, it is worth asking if it is the stock market going up, or is it money that is going down.Consider gold – historically used as a currency, it is now an ‘asset-class’ – an asset class that has been on fire for the past year. However, gold is not an investment; it is merely a store of value – something self-evident to anyone from 500 BC to 1945 AD. When we say ‘gold prices are up’,...
- Tags: Coins, Gold, Investing, Stock Market
The Quality Premium: Stocks to Silver
Posted by Amit Bhandari on

Over the past few months, I have noticed an increasing interest in silver (and gold) coins – from collectors, and investors who dabble in collectibles. The reason is obvious – silver price is up by almost 35% over the past year. Moreover, some investor-collectors I know like to park some of their equity market gains in antique-bullion coins. There are some commonalities between the equity market and collectibles – sound research is one of them. For instance, consider three seemingly identical coins in the image above – silver rupees from different years 1938, 1943 and 1944. To a layperson, they...
- Tags: Coin, Coins, India Coins, Investment, Numismatics, Silver
The Gold Bug
Posted by Amit Bhandari on

One of the first banknotes I picked up as a collector was the 100 trillion dollar banknote of Zimbabwe – practically worthless when it was printed; this note is now valuable as a collectible. This note is the best known instance of hyperinflation in the twenty-first century. While an outlier, the 100 trillion note highlights a major risk of fiat money – loss of value – which is far more common than we think. This note also helped me appreciate the traditional Indian love for gold – often criticized by economists and finance professionals. I also have in my collection...