Dhanteras 2024: Today is Dhanteras, a day when families traditionally buy gold, which symbolizes prosperity, good luck and future security. The Diwali festival, which marks the beginning of the new Hindu calendar year, is believed to be an auspicious time to invest in precious metals such as gold and silver.

At the close of Samvat 2080, both silver and gold ETFs performed strongly, outperforming the Nifty50 and BSE Sensex indices. This upward trend is expected to continue in the coming days as we approach the close of Samvat 2080.

ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, are investment vehicles that pool funds from investors to invest in a variety of assets, including commodities, stocks and bonds. Silver ETFs focus specifically on investing in physical silver, silver futures contracts, or stocks of silver mining companies.

According to ACE MF data, silver mutual funds showed impressive returns in 2024, with an average performance of 28.51% across the category. Gold ETFs, silver ETFs, Nifty and Sensex are witnessing a record rise of 30%, 28%, 27% and 25% respectively this year.

Best silver mutual funds

HDFC Silver ETF It tops the silver fund category, posting a significant return of 31.54% in 2024 and managing Assets Under Management (AUM) of Rs 320 million as of September 30, 2024.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Silver ETF and ICICI Prudential Silver ETF delivered impressive returns of 29.08% and 29.05% respectively in the same year.

Nippon India Silver ETF stands out as the largest silver ETF in terms of AUM, with assets of Rs 4.476 billion in September. Despite its size, the fund still managed to provide investors with a significant return of 28.79% in 2024, striking a balance of stability and growth potential.

The five funds, including HDFC Silver ETF FoF, ICICI Pru Silver ETF FOF, Nippon India Silver ETF FOF, UTI Silver ETF FoF, Aditya Birla SL Silver ETF FOF and Kotak Silver ETF FoF, have collectively generated annual returns of around 27%. until today.

silver investment

Silver is subject to fluctuations affected by various economic, geopolitical and technological factors. Unlike gold, silver has broad industrial applications, especially in electronics, solar energy, semiconductors and medical equipment. As advances in technology progress, it is anticipated that silver demand will increase in these sectors, potentially leading to an increase in prices.

Silver ETFs are gaining traction among investors. In fiscal 2025, silver ETF inflows reached Rs 4,993 billion through September, with Rs 1,664 billion coming in in August alone.

Sriram BKR, Senior Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, noted that FY25 flows were 9.9 times higher than FY24 flows over the same period. Additionally, Silver ETF Foils are up 236% year-on-year as of September. Investors appear to be showing interest in Silver ETFs to diversify their portfolios or take advantage of short-term market movements. Some of the inflows may also come from individuals who have given up on purchasing physical silver.

Recently, Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal shared his perspective on silver. He said that silver has transformed from a traditional precious metal into a very important industrial resource with the influence of new age technologies.

“Prices in India have crossed Rs 1 lakh per kg! Demand has doubled compared to last year. The demand for silver is driven not only by its traditional uses but also by large industrial demand. It is now widely used in solar panels for renewable energy, EVs, advanced healthcare, electronics and many other technologies,” Agarwal said.

Agarwal said the combination of being valuable and functional for silver is rare and the demand supply gap is widening. “It is the new critical mineral of the future,” he said.