Physical gold is getting old

Losing its sheen as both a hedge against inflation and a safe investment avenue

Physical gold has been favoured by investors since time immemorial. Even today, many investors buy one or two gold coins every month — their version of a systematic investment plan – and sit tight. There are several arguments in favour of buying gold. It is a hedge against inflation, a store of value, a safe investment avenue, and so on. However, things seem to be changing over the past few years. With consumer price index-based inflation dropping consistently, gold prices haven’t moved much, leading to a loss in terms of inflation-adjusted returns. For example, inflation has slipped from over 10