Views differ on gold's investment use after its low returns in past 5 years

Is gold losing its age-old status as a store of value? Sanjeev Prasad, head of Kotak Institutional Equities, believes so. He points to the less than satisfactory return it has shown as an investment over the past five years. India, he says, imported and 'consumed' over $300 billion worth of gold between 2007-08 and 2016-17, financing the resultant trade deficit through large capital flows. Some of which has gone into increased foreign ownership of Indian companies, now at almost 25 per cent of the top-200 stocks. Foreign Portfolio Investors bought $124 bn of Indian equity over FY08-17, the value of their holding going to $368 bn (BSE-200 Index basis) as of end-March 2017, versus $132 bn at end-March 2007. Gold prices, he says, rose three-fold in rupee terms over this period. He says the bulk of the FPI investment and of gold import happened during years of high inflation. With inflation now coming under control, he says, and the Reserve Bank targeting lower inflation than in the past, this is likely to keep gold import low. And, gold's status as a store of value or hedge against inflation will fade. Nifty Trading Tips