Investing in multi-asset fund with 10-15% in gold makes more sense and it is more tax efficient: PV Subramanyam

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

PV Subramanyam, CEO, Subramoney.com, says “I would rather put it in a multi-asset fund because a multi-asset fund would have 10% of its money in gold. So at any point in time, they will keep selling equity, buying gold or selling debt, buying gold or maybe selling gold and buying equity. That balancing will be done by the fund house and that is more tax efficient than you being able to do it. If you sell gold, you will pay capital gains tax. If you buy more gold, you will pay GST and things like that but if you let the fund manager sell equity, sell debt and buy gold when it is efficient that makes more sense. So a multi-asset fund with 10% in gold or 15% in gold makes more sense and it is more tax efficient also.”

During Diwali time, especially Dhanteras, talk about gold is mandated even as we are dealing with a lot of uncertainties right now. There are geopolitical concerns, concerns over crude oil prices, which way they are going to go and of course slowdown in key economies. How important is gold as an investment class today?
Normally you tend to have about 5-10% of your portfolio in gold but gold is not very efficiently taxed.

Sovereign gold bonds are a good way to pay less taxes because the capital gains is tax free and so when you have gold coming in at the end of eight years, you can either take it in the form of gold or you can take it in the form of cash. Both these options are available. So from a tax point it is more efficient.