'Everyone's chasing returns': Radhika Gupta calls out India's gold rush

At a time when retail investors are glued to one-year return charts and WhatsApp-fuelled buzz around gold and silver, Radhika Gupta, chief executive officer of Edelweiss Mutual Fund, offered a candid reflection on how India’s investing culture is tilting towards short-termism  and how even professionals are caught in the same trap.

 

Speaking at the Morningstar Investment Conference India 2025 in Mumbai last week, Gupta said that the financial ecosystem, not just investors, is guilty of chasing what’s hot. “Whenever someone asks me about investor bias, it hits a nerve. We sit on stage and criticise investors, but those same biases exist in all of us,” she said.

 

From ‘silly product’ to crowd favourite

 

To make her point, Gupta turned to an example from her own fund house. In 2022, Edelweiss launched 50-50 Gold and Silver Fund, a product she admitted was initially met with little enthusiasm.

 

“Honestly, it was a silly product,” she said. “Returns looked so bad that my team didn’t even want to include them in the presentation.”

 

The fund’s muted debut reflected the sentiment then. Launched quietly on her birthday, it attracted only Rs 12 crore. But three years later, as gold and silver prices rallied sharply, sentiment flipped. The same fund now draws Rs 25 crore in daily inflows after delivering 67.5 per cent returns in the past year.

 

“You’re not asking for it. Your bias is,” she quipped, adding that investors are now demanding even Platinum and Copper SIPs, though few cared about these metals earlier.  ALSO READ | Time to start buying gold for the long term, suggest analysts

The danger of chasing last year’s winners

 

Gupta cautioned against treating past performance as a predictor of future gains. “It is not offering 67 per cent. It has offered that return. There is a difference,” she said, emphasising that such thinking fuels a cycle of herd behaviour.

 

She also reminded investors that trends change and what is ignored today might be tomorrow’s opportunity. “The smartest move is not chasing what is hot. It is spotting what everyone else is ignoring,” she noted.  ALSO READ | Sebi warns people against investing in digital gold products, flags risks

A call for long-term thinking

 

Even as gold and silver funds dominate flows, Gupta said her focus now is on fixed income SIPs, products that currently receive little investor attention but are essential for a balanced portfolio.

 

Her message was clear, India’s “return obsession” may deliver short-term thrills, but long-term wealth will come only to those who look beyond the glitter.