India is the world’s largest gold-consuming nation. The share of gold in international market is 1.5X that of
the U.S. although its GDP is only one-twentieth the size of the U.S. GDP. With its soaring rate of gold consumption, India accounts for 18% of the annual worldwide gold demand, while its share of global GDP on nominal dollar GDP is only 1.6%.
India is experiencing an 80% growth in gold investment following a relaxed trade and market limitations. The gold increased 242 per cent between March 1999 and March 2010 which is equivalent of an average annual return of 13.1 per cent and it also outpaced inflation which has increased by 30 per cent during the decade or by an average 2.7 per cent a year. Monetary authorities in India are not tremendously positive about the outlook of U.S. dollar thus their hedge against Dollar will help to set the stage for an alternative reserve currency/asset, an offer broadcasted by countries like China, France and Russia.
Despite the slump in the housing market in the past two years, property has produced the second highest return after Gold keeping PSU and BSE on third & forth respectively.


