A Story That Still Matters
When my grandmother got married, her mother didn't sit her down to talk about mutual funds or SIPs. She opened a red velvet box. Inside were a few carefully chosen gold bangles and a thin chain.
"This is yours. Keep it close. If you ever need it, this will stand by you when no one else can."
For generations, that's what gold jewellery really was for women: quiet insurance. Not an asset in a spreadsheet, but a private emergency fund — tucked into locker drawers, wrapped in saree folds, carried across cities and seasons. Something that could be pledged, sold, or exchanged when life took an unexpected turn.
My grandmother never used the word "portfolio." But she understood risk. Her gold wasn't about fashion. It was about freedom in a world where women didn't always have the right to sign cheques — but they could quietly decide when to sell a bangle.
The Modern Question
That history still matters. But so does the present. Because today, the question isn't just "Should I buy gold?" It's something broader — and more interesting.
Where does gold jewellery fit in a modern woman's financial life —
now that she can invest in everything else too?
What the Numbers Say
25 Years of Gold — An Extraordinary Run
Gold has had an extraordinary long-term run — while also reminding us that it can be far more volatile than our cultural story about "stable gold" suggests.
2001 — Global Average
$277/oz
A starting point that would prove historic
Early 2026 — Global Spot
$4,900–5,000/oz
Record levels — after record volatility
6 Feb 2026 — India Rate
₹1,57,200
Per 10g (99.9% purity, inclusive of taxes)
Gold as Insurance
In Indian Homes, the Theory Wears Jewellery
Academic research has repeatedly found that gold can behave like a hedge — particularly during extreme stock-market stress. But when finance people talk about "gold," they usually mean bars, coins, or ETFs on a chart.
In Indian homes, a meaningful share of that "insurance gold" sits as bridal sets, bangles, chains — worn on the body, stored in the home, emotionally tagged to family history.
Unlike land or fixed deposits, jewellery moved with her — through marriage, childbirth, migration, and reinvention. It was often the most accessible "asset in her own name," especially when women didn't always have independent income, bank accounts, or paperwork that made other investments easy.
That's not nostalgia. That's financial architecture — built by women, for women, in a world that didn't always give them another option.
The New Freedom
Women and Diversified Investing
My grandmother's choices were simple: land in the family name, or jewellery in her own name. Today, a young woman can open a demat account from her phone and out-invest most people who "just go with what the family says." That shift is being measured.
25%+
Individual Investors
Women investors now account for over 25% of individual mutual fund investors in India, per AMFI data reported by The Economic Times (March 2025).
~33%
Individual AUM
Women hold approximately one-third of India's individual mutual fund assets under management — a meaningful and growing share, per CFA Institute.
"Gold or mutual funds?"
"Gold and mutual funds and maybe a small flat and that one stock she researched for months."
The Honest Answer
Gold Jewellery: Powerful Asset, Imperfect Investment
In real life — especially for women — it has been priceless backup capital for centuries. On a spreadsheet, it has gaps. Both things are true.
Where Gold Jewellery Shines
- Backup value you can touch. In a cash crunch, gold can become liquidity quickly in most cities and towns — no paperwork, no waiting period.
- Long-term store of value. Over decades, gold has often held up through inflation and currency weakness — even if the path is bumpy.
- Emotional return. Jewellery carries identity, memory, tradition, and a sense of safety that a demat statement can never replicate.
Where It Falls Short as a Pure Investment
- Sell friction. Unlike clicking "sell" on an ETF, jewellery resale can involve negotiation, making charges deductions, and time — especially in smaller cities.
- No cash flow. Jewellery doesn't generate interest, rent, or dividends. Returns come only from price appreciation of the underlying metal.
- Making charges. The cost of craftsmanship is not recovered at resale — so the "investment" is really in the metal, not the jewel as a whole.
As a jeweller. As a woman.
We No Longer Have to Choose.
As a jeweller, gold is the backbone of my work. I think in karats and grams, not just in CAD files and SKUs. Every day, I watch brides, mothers, and daughters choose pieces that are part adornment, part safety net. The weight of a bangle on a wrist is never just aesthetic. I know that. I was raised knowing that.
As a woman, my relationship with gold is softer — and more complicated. I still feel a deep comfort in that weight. It connects me to my grandmother and to all the women before her who quietly built their own security in a world that did not always give them one.
But I also feel empowered when I understand my asset allocation, when I invest with intention, when I sign for something in my own name. And I feel lucky — because for the first time, I don't have to choose between those two things.
We can wear our safety on our skin in the form of gold — while our other investments compound quietly in the background — and for the first time, all of it can truly be ours.
The Gold Edit
Jewellery That Carries Your Story
Browse our gold jewellery — crafted in Jaipur, designed to be worn daily, built to last. Adornment and assurance, in every piece.