Gold Return Since You Were Born: Rs 1,00,000 gold bought in 1975 is worth Rs 1,77,00,000 now

Gold prices change because of a lot of factors. The primary factor is supply and demand, but other factors are inflation, seasonal demand, geopolitical situations, interest rates, government actions and reserves, share market conditions, and US dollar value.

When inflation rises, paper currency loses its value. But gold maintains its purchasing power during such times. Amid such a situation, more people flock to buy gold, and its price rises. During a share market downturn or bond rate cut, investors may lose money, but gold is least affected by these factors. As a result, investors start investing in assets such as gold, whose price starts rising. 

Like the price of a stock, the gold rate fluctuates too, but it's not that sharp. Secondly, if one holds gold for the long term, it is most likely to give them high returns. It doesn't mean that it will always give a higher return than stocks or stock-related assets, but in the long term, gold is most likely to give a steady return. 

 

Physical gold is the most popular form of gold in India. It's because people buy jewellery for weddings and religious occasions. It is used in the form of ornament and investment. 

Many people don't want to hold gold in its physical form as there is always the risk of losing it or it being stolen. But they want to take advantage of gold's price appreciation. Such investors prefer the digital form of gold. They can also buy gold mutual funds or gold ETFs. 

An important question is, when futures prices are the same across India, why is there disparity in spot gold prices? The reasons behind it are local market conditions, import duties and taxes, local demand and supply, transportation costs, jeweller charges, etc.

Just look at indicative gold price from 1965-2025 (24-carat 10 gm gold) 1965- Rs 71.75 1975- Rs 540 1985- Rs 2,130 1995- Rs 4,680 2005- Rs 7,000 2015- Rs 26,343.50 2025- Rs 95,187

We will calculate how a Rs 1 lakh investment in gold has increased from 1965 to 2024. We will calculate how much gold would have been bought for Rs 1 lakh in a particular year and what is the current value of that investment (as per today's gold rate).

Year Gold rate (24 karat/10gm) Gold bought (gm) Current value 1965 ₹ 71.75 13937.28 ₹ 13,26,64,808.36 1966 ₹ 83.75 11940.30 ₹ 11,36,56,119.40 1967 ₹ 102.50 9756.10 ₹ 9,28,65,365.85 1968 ₹ 162.00 6172.84 ₹ 5,87,57,407.41 1969 ₹ 176.00 5681.82 ₹ 5,40,83,522.73 1970 ₹ 184.00 5434.78 ₹ 5,17,32,065.22 1971 ₹ 193.00 5181.35 ₹ 4,93,19,689.12 1972 ₹ 202.00 4950.50 ₹ 4,71,22,277.23 1973 ₹ 278.50 3590.66 ₹ 3,41,78,456.01 1974 ₹ 506.00 1976.28 ₹ 1,88,11,660.08 1975 ₹ 540.00 1851.85 ₹ 1,76,27,222.22

Year Gold rate (24 karat/10gm) Gold bought (gm) Current value 1976 ₹ 432.00 2314.81 ₹ 2,20,34,027.78 1977 ₹ 486.00 2057.61 ₹ 1,95,85,802.47 1978 ₹ 685.00 1459.85 ₹ 1,38,95,912.41 1979 ₹ 937.00 1067.24 ₹ 1,01,58,697.97 1980 ₹ 1,330.00 751.88 ₹ 71,56,917.29 1981 ₹ 1,670.00 598.80 ₹ 56,99,820.36 1982 ₹ 1,645.00 607.90 ₹ 57,86,443.77 1983 ₹ 1,800.00 555.56 ₹ 52,88,166.67 1984 ₹ 1,970.00 507.61 ₹ 48,31,827.41 1985 ₹ 2,130.00 469.48 ₹ 44,68,873.24

Year Gold rate (24 karat/10gm) Gold bought (gm) Current value 1986 ₹ 2,140.00 467.29 ₹ 44,47,990.65 1987 ₹ 2,570.00 389.11 ₹ 37,03,774.32 1988 ₹ 3,130.00 319.49 ₹ 30,41,118.21 1989 ₹ 3,140.00 318.47 ₹ 30,31,433.12 1990 ₹ 3,200.00 312.50 ₹ 29,74,593.75 1991 ₹ 3,466.00 288.52 ₹ 27,46,306.98 1992 ₹ 4,334.00 230.73 ₹ 21,96,285.19 1993 ₹ 4,140.00 241.55 ₹ 22,99,202.90 1994 ₹ 4,598.00 217.49 ₹ 20,70,182.69 1995 ₹ 4,680.00 213.68 ₹ 20,33,910.26

Year Gold rate (24 karat/10gm) Gold bought (gm) Current value 1996 ₹ 5,160.00 193.80 ₹ 18,44,709.30 1997 ₹ 4,725.00 211.64 ₹ 20,14,539.68 1998 ₹ 4,045.00 247.22 ₹ 23,53,201.48 1999 ₹ 4,234.00 236.18 ₹ 22,48,157.77 2000 ₹ 4,400.00 227.27 ₹ 21,63,340.91 2001 ₹ 4,300.00 232.56 ₹ 22,13,651.16 2002 ₹ 4,990.00 200.40 ₹ 19,07,555.11 2003 ₹ 5,600.00 178.57 ₹ 16,99,767.86 2004 ₹ 5,850.00 170.94 ₹ 16,27,128.21 2005 ₹ 7,000.00 142.86 ₹ 13,59,814.29

Year Gold rate (24 karat/10gm) Gold bought (gm) Current value 2007 ₹ 10,800.00 92.59 ₹ 8,81,361.11 2008 ₹ 12,500.00 80.00 ₹ 7,61,496.00 2009 ₹ 14,500.00 68.97 ₹ 6,56,462.07 2010 ₹ 18,500.00 54.05 ₹ 5,14,524.32 2011 ₹ 26,400.00 37.88 ₹ 3,60,556.82 2012 ₹ 31,050.00 32.21 ₹ 3,06,560.39 2013 ₹ 29,600.00 33.78 ₹ 3,21,577.70 2014 ₹ 28,006.50 35.71 ₹ 3,39,874.67 2015 ₹ 26,343.50 37.96 ₹ 3,61,330.12

Year Gold rate (24 karat/10gm) Gold bought (gm) Current value 2016 ₹ 28,623.50 34.94 ₹ 3,32,548.43 2017 ₹ 29,667.50 33.71 ₹ 3,20,846.04 2018 ₹ 31,438.00 31.81 ₹ 3,02,776.89 2019 ₹ 35,220.00 28.39 ₹ 2,70,264.05 2020 ₹ 48,651.00 20.55 ₹ 1,95,652.71 2021 ₹ 48,720.00 20.53 ₹ 1,95,375.62 2022 ₹ 52,670.00 18.99 ₹ 1,80,723.37 2023  ₹ 65,330.00 15.31 ₹ 1,45,701.82 2024 ₹ 77,913.00 12.83 ₹ 1,22,170.88