Gold funds returned 54% in the year to April 2026

The number

In the year to 21 April 2026, the median gold fund returned 54.44%. All 17 gold funds with a full year of NAVs made between 52.22% and 55.09%.

These are gold funds of funds: mutual funds that buy units of gold ETFs, which in turn hold physical gold. They let an investor hold gold through an ordinary mutual fund account, with SIPs. Some carry "ETF FoF" in the name and some, like SBI Gold Fund or Nippon India Gold Savings Fund, do not, but they work the same way. We count 23 of them on the Direct plan, Growth option. Gold ETFs themselves, which trade on the exchange, are not included, and nor are funds that mix gold with silver.

Returns of a year or more are annualised. All are computed from daily NAVs up to 21 April 2026.

Same metal, small gaps

Because every fund holds the same thing, their returns cluster tightly. What separates them is mostly costs and how closely each follows the metal.

A gap of 2.87 points in a single year is wide for funds holding one asset. Over longer periods it narrows sharply, to under a point a year over three, five and ten years.

The order shifts between periods. Kotak Gold Fund is ninth over one year and first over ten. Invesco India is near the bottom over both one and three years.

Against the gold price

Our reference is the international gold price (the COMEX futures close) converted to rupees each day, the series on our gold and silver price page. It closed at ₹1,40,670 per 10 grams on 21 April.

The one-year price figure starts on 17 April 2025, the nearest close in our series. Over a year, and over 2026, the funds and the international price are roughly level.

Over three years they are not: every one of the ten older funds trails the international price by 4 to 5 points a year. Since the gap is the same for all of them, it is not about any one fund. It is the difference between the international price and the domestic price the funds actually track, which includes India's import duty and so moves away from the international price whenever that duty changes.

Distance from the top

Gold has not been kind to recent buyers. The international price is 10.6% below its highest close, ₹1,57,381 on 29 January. The 19 funds that existed before 2026 are between 13.35% and 16.45% below their own highest NAVs, all set on 29 January, and their one-month returns, 2.67% to 3.70%, show the bounce since March has been modest.

Four gold funds launched in 2026, and the earliest of them shows the cost of timing: Bandhan's fund, which began on 28 January, the day before the peak, is down 7.38% since its first NAV.

What this does not tell you

A 54% year is not a forecast. It contains the three best months in our gold series, which starts in 2021, and the worst one, March 2026.

The fund matters less than the metal. Over ten years the oldest nine funds sit within 0.55 points a year of each other; gold's own swings are far larger.

This is not advice to buy or sell any fund, or gold itself.

Where to go from here

Every gold fund of funds is on the domestic fund-of-funds page. For how gold itself moved last month, see gold and silver in March 2026.

The guide to gold funds and ETFs explains the structures, and the SGB vs gold ETF calculator compares holding costs.