Did you know there are three ways of buying gold? The first is the traditional way of buying physical gold for consumption in the form of ornaments, coins or bars. The second way is through investment in gold-backed financial instruments like Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) or sovereign gold bonds, and a third is through digital gold products.
When it comes to investing, gold is an excellent asset-class with relatively predictable price movement. Demand for gold sees a rise whenever the economy is underperforming, and the stocks market is erratic. Investors prefer gold to hedge their investment against a crisis. Recently, gold investment has performed really well, generating around 40 per cent in return. But possessing physical gold offers a couple of challenges, along with the concerns of a hefty investment. Relatively inexperienced investors and traders who don’t want to hold the underlying physically, have stayed away from gold investment because of these reasons. But now you can overcome these challenges by investing in digital gold. So, let’s now see how to buy gold online and why it makes so much sense.
Digital gold investment is an online mode of investing in the physical form of the yellow metal for any amount without worrying about its purity, storage and safety. Riding on the burgeoning digital economy, several vendors have started offering products to consumers who wish to buy gold online fairly and transparently. So if you are considering investing in digital gold, then let’s take a look at its features, advantages.
Digital gold has given a wide reach to the product that some of the other popular products like the Sovereign gold bonds and gold ETFs don’t have. Several fintech companies like Paytm, Google Pay, Amazon Pay are offering the facility of directly purchasing gold from their platforms.
What is digital gold?
Digital gold is a way of accumulating pure gold in parts anytime and anywhere, even with the smallest amount of investment. It enables you to buy gold without worrying about its purity, safety and storage. Each gram of digigold purchased by the individual is backed by actual 24-Karat physical gold. This physical gold is set aside in an allocated vault by the vendor who acts as its custodian. If you sell a part of it, then the exact quantity will be deducted from storage.
When you are buying gold, it is mostly based on trust, so you need to confirm that you are buying only from authorised agencies. In India, only three companies are allowed to issue digital gold, the state owned MMTC, which associates with PAMP from Switzerland – a global leader in branding bullion to offer digital gold, Augmont Gold, and the Digital Gold India Pvt. Ltd., which owns the SafeGold brand.
The gold issued by these companies are 24.99 percent pure and carries a guarantee from the issuer on purity and weight.
How to buy gold online?
Due to upsurge in global demand, shrinking economies, and widening monetary policies, gold has become increasingly scarce in the global market. But digital gold has made it possible for investors to invest as little as Rs 100 in acquiring physical gold. You can make small investments towards the yellow metal and accumulate slowly an amount you want. You no longer have to save for months before buying gold or worry about its security. Digital gold allows you to purchase the precious metal at any time and anywhere. The gold you are buying gets accumulated in a safe vault till the time you decide to own the physical asset. When you buy the amount gets added to your existing stash. Conversely, when you sell, an equivalent amount gets deducted from your account.
If you are wondering how to invest in gold online through your bank or broker, three ways to buy online gold are through Gold ETFs, Sovereign Gold Bonds and Digital Gold. Most brokers sell digital gold in collaboration with MMTC-PAMP. It is a joint venture between the Indian public sector unit MMTC and Switzerland-based PAMP-SA.
Investing in digital gold works the similar way like acquiring physical gold. When you buy digital gold, the seller sells it at the prevailing market price and store the amount in a virtual vault assigned to you.
Features of digital gold:
Some of the features of digital gold are as follow:
- You can buy gold at that minimum investment of Re 1. The maximum amount differs from one distributor to another. You can also avoid paying associated expenses and making charges by investing in digital gold.
- Gold is offered in 24-Karat purity. SafeGold offers 99.5 percent purity, while MMTC-PAMP offers 99.9 percent.
- The physical gold is safely stored by the vendor until redemption. No charges are levied for two years by SafeGold, while MMTC-PAMP does not charge for vault for five years.
- When you are buying or selling, the gold price is determined on real-time basis without any deduction due to depreciation
- You can take delivery of the physical gold or redeem it by selling it back to the vendor at the applicable price.
- You can redeem the gold from approved jewellers by purchasing ornaments.
- The gold stored in vaults is insured against losses.
- Investing in digital gold also adds to liquidity, allows faster transaction when you are purchasing or selling.
- You can buy or sell gold without needing a DEMAT account.
A major advantage of investing in digital gold is flexibility. It allows you to grow your gold stock gradually with small investments that you can make online and anytime. There is no need to follow daily trends or invest in a lump sum. The digital gold has broken the barriers. The domain that was once restricted only to big players is now open to small retail investors as well.
How To Buy, Sell, And Redeem Digital Gold
The online buying and selling process is quite simple. Besides, it offers round-the-clock access to your account so that you can buy or sell anytime.
To purchase digital gold, you would need to first register yourself as a customer by providing details like your name, mobile number, address, PAN, and the like. Once you register, you can then check the real-time price of gold in the market to buy or sell. The transactions are carried out on a real-time basis without any decay in value due to delay. Here is the process that you need to follow to buy, sell, and redeem digital gold.
To Buy
You select the amount you want to purchase in grams or rupees and make payment through the online payment gateway.
To Sell
One of the biggest advantages of investing in digigold is the convenience of liquidity. You can sell any amount anytime without needing to visit a jeweller. Select the amount you want to sell and enter bank account details where you want the money to credit.
To Reedem
You can redeem the gold stored in the digital vault against physical gold from authorised dealers.
You have the option to buy coin, bar, or jewellery against the value of the gold in your account. The dealer will sell the physical gold to you and deduct the same amount from your account.
Conclusion:
India’s love for gold is well-known. To the Indian’s, gold is more than just a means of investment. It is often associated with social status and financial well-being. However, the gold price has always maintained an upward trend. In recent time there is a steep rise in its price, which has made it difficult for many to buy the yellow metal. Moreover, when you are buying physical gold, you need to concern yourself with its purity, making charges, and additional charges and taxes, which often push the price further up. Difficulties of holding gold, along with scarcity, are some of the other reasons behind the rising popularity of digital gold.
Now that you’ve seen how to buy gold online, you should consider investing. Digital gold saves you from hefty charges of making ornaments. Most importantly, it allows you to accumulate and redeem gold in parts. There is also an ease of buying the product online from anywhere. These qualities have made the product popular across a spectrum of Indian society.
FAQ
Is it safe to buy gold online?
Only three companies are allowed to sell digital gold, MMTC-PAMP, Augmont, and SafeGold brand. And any online platform which is selling digigold needs to attach itself with one of these three firms. Among these three, MMTC-PAMP is state-owned. So, whenever you are buying gold online, it is backed by these organisations, which also give assurance regarding purity and value.
However, we would still suggest that you always check the reputation and authenticity of the website before purchasing online gold.
How can I buy gold digitally?
There are quite a few options available, from online portals like Google Pay and Amazon to stockbrokers. To buy digital gold, you first need to register as a customer with your name, address, and mobile number.
How do I start investing in gold?
There are a couple of choices available to invest in gold. Apart from the traditional way of buying gold jewellery, coins, or bars, you can also invest in Sovereign gold bonds and gold-backed ETFs. Gold F&Os trade in the commodity exchanges.
Digital gold is another alternative to investing in gold that is fast gaining popularity.
Is buying digital gold a good investment?
If you are buying gold for consumption, then gold purchased online is a good choice. Buying online gold allows fast buying and selling on real-time price. But if your objective is purely to invest then sovereign gold bonds and gold-backed ETFs have certain advantages, like in sovereign gold bonds you can earn an interest of 2.5 percent and also receive tax benefits.
Is it safe to buy gold on Google pay?
GooglePay claims that the digital gold you are buying on their platform getting stored with MMTC-PAMP, which is one of the three companies allowed to sell gold digitally and a state-owned organisation. The gold you purchase is also 99.99 percent pure 24k gold. It gets stored under Gold Accumulation Plan (GAP) of MMTC-PAMP. So, there is no red flag there.
