

Why India's new hybrid gold products may not be the right investment fit
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Over the last few days, market intermediaries have launched regulated versions of digital gold that also allow individuals to take physical deliveries. On paper, these products promise the best of both worlds: access to high-purity gold at transparent prices without the hassle of storage.
However, the jury is still out on whether or not these products meet investors' real needs.The National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched Electronic Gold Receipts (EGRs) on 4 May and Dhan, a broker, launched a gold vault on 29 April.In NSE’s EGR offering, gold is held in demat form. Simply put, gold already sitting within the formal vaulting ecosystem can be converted into an electronic receipt that can be traded on the stock exchange, much like shares.
Individuals can then buy and sell EGRs on the exchange. And in the case of Dhan’s gold vault, investors can buy a gold futures contract at live Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) prices by paying the entire contract amount upfront.
In both the cases, individuals can take the delivery of gold, if needed.However, there are practical challenges here. In the case of EGRs, since individuals have to themselves collect the physical gold from the vaults or vault branches, and the number of them being limited, they may have to travel long distances to take the physical delivery.While platforms such as Dhan promise doorstep delivery, the end use-case for most retail investors is still likely to be jewellery consumption.In both the cases, investors would eventually have to approach a jeweller to convert the gold into jewellery, bringing back the same counterparty and trust risks around purity and pricing that these products are attempting to eliminate in the first
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