Indus Valley Times

Gold investment popular in metro cities, digital gold awareness on rise

•             Tier I cities for survey – Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Noida, Jaipur

•             Tier-1 believes Gold to be the best investment

•             Digital investment highest (27%) amongst Tier I cities

•             50% from Tier I cities invest in gold

•             39% from Tier I cities said they will only buy gold from trusted brands

•             46% from Tier I cities aware that they can invest in digital gold for Re. 1

•             38% from Tier I will invest in digital gold If there is a Govt. of India backed company

•             Digital gold allows investment in 24 Karat, awareness highest (43%) amongst Tier I cities

•             (% population denotes survey respondents)

By Nalini Sahu

Mumbai, Oct. 15: :Leading consumer data Intelligence company, Axis My India, launched India’s Investment Behaviour Report –a comprehensive study to understand Indian consumers’ approach towards different forms of investment, key barriers and drivers for making investment decisions. Focusing on varied investment instruments, the report unveils consumer opinion towards Gold investment and the rising trend of new age instruments like ‘digital gold’.

Of the 65% of Indian population that invests, 66% belong to Tier-1 towns as compared to 74% of the people living in metros and & 51% in Tier-II towns. The motivation behind investing is the safety and security of one’s family and children followed by profits, with a trend of 58% Metro dwellers, and 40% eachfrom Tier I & II towns.

Gold as a category finds the most trust as an investment option in Tier-1 cities as there is a huge stratum of population that purchases gold to secure their future. A significant 36% of people in Tier-1 cities buy gold for investment rather than adornment, found the survey. Women tend to invest more into Gold with 65% women investing in comparison with 41% men.

Commenting on the report, Pradeep Gupta Chairman and Managing DirectorAxis My Indiasaid,“A vast majority of the population in Tier-1 cities is aligned towards investing into Gold and the awareness around its digital counterpart is fairly high. The belief into a government backed company is the highest in Tier-1 and 2 cities owing to the trust factor. There is immense untapped potential for more digital interventions as motivations to invest remain the same as others.”

Key-takeaways:

Gold is the most ‘preferred’ form of investment for 53% across metros, Tier I and Tier II, followed by Mutual Fund (41%). Tier I forms the second majority, with 50% investing in gold

•             Investment Pattern across the country is ‘currently’ concentrated towards Gold, Mutual Funds and FD. Tier 1 majorly invest in gold (50%), followed by Mutual funds (46%) and fixed deposits (37%)

•             Increase in Digital Gold investment pattern highlighting potential of 3% increase. Tier 1 cities reflect an higher investment in Mutual Funds (40%) as compared to metros and Tier II cities but lesser investment in Digital gold as compared to metros and Tier I

•             Gold as an investment instrument is higher among females (65%) with male at (41%).

Scope of Digital Investment in India

•             India is increasingly becoming digitized with 24% of people across the country having tried some form of digital investments (27%)

•             Of those who do digital investment – 50% have invested in MF, 40% in shares and a significant 35% in Gold (both digital gold and gold bought from e-commerce)

•             Only 10% invest in cryptocurrency.

•             The trend of the country resonates with the Tier I cities where in 55% prefer to invest in Mutual funds, 43% in shares/stocks and 33% in gold.

•             Digital investment penetration is higher in Males (28%) compared to Females (19%). Population strata wise digital investment penetration is more or less similar which shows the increasing use of digital even in smaller towns.

•             Amongst varied instruments of digital investment, Gold (both digital gold and gold bought from e-commerce) is majorly bought(46%) by 35-44 yrs old,

•             Fixed Deposit/Recurring Deposit are majorly bought (31%) by 45-54 yrs old and Cryptocurrencies are majorly bought (21%) by 18-24 yrs old

Gold as a preferred investment

•             The first thing which comes to mind while thinking of gold is a form of jewelry (54%) and marriage (37%). Gold is also thought as a form investment for emergencies (30%)

•             57% buy Gold during festive season or marriage of which only 52% are from Tier 1 & 46% have inherited some form of Gold from their parents or family of which 39% are from Tier 1 cities.

•             39% from Tier I cities said they will only buy gold from trusted brands

•             A significant 76% across the country mentioned that they buy Gold only from trusted brands, which signifies the importance of Trust when it comes to Gold purchase

•             This factor of using Gold for emergency use is higher in females (35%) compared to males (24%)

Digital Gold- An attractive form of investment opportunity

35% people are aware of Digital Gold as an instrument of investment of which 38% are from Tier 1 cities

•             Of those who invest 55% are Males & 45% Females. Awareness is furthermore in higher income groups and metro and tier 1 cities

•             Pop Strata wise 11% in Metros, 11% in Tier-I & 8% in Tier-II have already invested in digital gold which shows its increasing reach across pop-strata

•             Digital Gold is increasingly an attractive form of investment with 10% of people having already tried it who invests in general and 7% at an overall level with a higher skew in the 25-44 age group

•             From an intent perspective out of all who invest, 13% plan to invest in Digital Gold in the future, and this no. is the same across pop strata.

Awareness on Digital Gold

Awareness on Digital Gold at an overall level is mainly because of social media (53%) which shows the power of Word of Mouth, followed by Mass Media like TV/Print/Outdoor (42%), Families & Friends (38%)

•             85% aware that digital gold is a new age investment instrument that allows you to invest in 24 Karat. This awareness is highest amongst Tier I cities at 43%

•             73% aware that one can redeem digital gold for 24 Karat purest gold coins and gold bars / if required. This awareness is highest amongst Tier I cities at 44%

•             64% aware that they can invest in digital gold for Rs. 1 through their phone. This awareness is highest amongst Tier I cities at 46%

Future potential of Digital Gold Investment

•             Male Potential to invest in digital gold is 54% while that of female is 50%/ Youth’s potential to invest in digital gold is 63% which decreases towards higher age groups

•             Across all cities there is potential of about 60% investment in Digital Gold

•             In spite of low awareness on Digital Gold, having Govt. of India backed company makes it easier for people to invest in Digital Gold

•             Around 50% of all income groups believe that having Govt. of India backed company will make it easier for them to invest in Digital Gold

•             38% from Tier I said they will invest in digital gold If there is a Govt. of India backed company which makes investing easier

This survey was conducted among 5000 respondents using a stratified random sampling approach and the questionnaire was administered through a combination of CAPI, CATI & CAWI. In terms of geographic segmentation, the survey included 36% Metros (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata); 39% Tier –I towns (Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Noida, Jaipur), and 25% Tier-II towns (Chandigarh, Vizag, Coimbatore, Gurgaon, Ludhiana). Ensuring a close to equal representation it had 52% male and 48% female participants. The age group of the sample include 47% of 25-34 years –, 22% of 35-44 years -, 18% of 18-24 years and 13% of 45 years and above.