Nithin Kamath, co-founder and CEO of Zerodha, talked about the persisting the gap between Indian households’ gold wealth and the equity funding needs of Indian businesses. According to World Gold Council data, Indian households hold gold worth approximately $3 trillion, much of which remains idle in storage, offering minimal contribution to the financial ecosystem.In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Kamath said, “Indian households hold ~$3 trillion in gold (World Gold Council estimate), sitting idle in lockers. Meanwhile, equity investments fund companies that need capital to grow.”“We need better ways to financialize this gold beyond just gold loans,” he added. Alongside his remarks, he shared a comparative bar chart of annual returns for gold and the Nifty 500 index from 1996 to 2025, illustrating the fluctuating performance of the two asset classes over the years.The chart shows that equities delivered exceptional returns in certain years, including 2003 (101%), 2004 (105%), and 2009 (91%), while also experiencing steep declines in 2001 (-22%), 2008 (-57%), and 2011 (-26%). Gold, by comparison, exhibited more consistent yet moderate returns, with notable spikes in 2011 (32%), 2020 (27%), and projected 16% in 2024, and relatively fewer years of negative performance.The chart also identifies 2020 as an “Outlier” year, when both asset classes posted positive returns amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the Nifty 500 increasing 16% and gold appreciating 27%.
