Investors chose Gold ETFs over Equities in December 2025

Mutual fund investors chose gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) over equity-oriented schemes in December 2025, following the rally in gold and the suboptimal returns.

According to data from Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), the net inflows into gold ETFs, a mutual fund investment avenue that is relatively in its nascent stage, tripled to ₹1,16,467 crore in December 2025 from the month earlier. This is a record high net inflow into gold ETFs. Meanwhile, the net inflows into equity-oriented schemes dipped 6.2% in the month under review, coming in at ₹28,054 crore.

“Gold ETFs recorded their highest ever inflow after gold delivered more than 70% returns in CY25, pointing to some recency bias,” said Feroze Azeez, Joint CEO, Anand Rathi Wealth Limited.

The emergence of gold ETFs may point to both an improving diversification of the Indian mutual fund investors and a safe haven demand.

Increasing flows into gold ETFs and a decline in equity inflows also came with a net outflow of ₹66,532 crore in all open-ended schemes.

SIP inflows continued to improve on a monthly basis. “The surge was driven by sustained demand for gold-backed products amid elevated macro uncertainty and intermittent risk-off sentiment.

Strong price momentum in gold through 2025, coupled with heightened safe-haven demand, continued to support investor interest in the segment,” said Himanshu Srivastava, Principal Research, Morningstar Investment Research India.

To be sure, the benchmark Nifty 50 returned just 10% in past year, as foreign investors sold more than ₹1.5 lakh crore in Indian equities, triggered by expensive valuations to justify the quarterly earnings.