Should you buy gold this Akshaya Tritiya?

So should you buy gold this Akshaya Tritiya, which is today? Yes - for a variety of reasons. Gold is not correlated to other financial assets like equities and bonds. Having gold in your portfolio increases diversification, apart from that it is instantly liquid in any country in the world and is virtually indestructible.

The year gone by saw a lull in gold prices and some serious short-selling by gold bears, especially after the Fed started shutting the stimulus tap progressively. But unlike in the West, it is not just about calculated returns; because, in India, we buy gold for a variety of reasons including ornamentation, investment, social compulsion as well as religious reasons.

This has ensured that the limitations imposed by the government have led to the spot prices being higher than futures prices because buyers are ready to pay a premium to secure physical delivery.

Gold has always given reasonably good returns to investors in India