Gold up 17%, silver up 39%: the year in rupee prices

The year in two numbers

Over the twelve months to 1 October 2026, gold rose 16.7% in rupee terms and silver rose 39.4%.

Both are a long way below where they stood in January. Gold is 18.1% under its peak and silver 44.4% under its own.

What these prices are

Every figure in this post is the international spot rate (the COMEX futures close) converted to rupees at that day's own dollar rate. That is the series charted on our gold and silver price page.

It is before import duty and GST, so it is lower than the price a jeweller or a bullion dealer quotes. The live page shows an India estimate with both added.

The January spike and the one-day fall

The year was not a steady climb. Both metals ran up hard into late January 2026 and then gave back a large part of it in a single session.

• Gold peaked on 29 January 2026 at about ₹1,57,381 per 10 grams, 43.8% above its October low. The next session it closed at ₹1,39,100, down 11.6% in a day.
• Silver peaked on 26 January 2026 at about ₹3,38,550 per kg, more than two and a half times its October low. On 30 January it closed at ₹2,31,020, down 31.5% in a day.

Month-end values show the shape:

Someone who bought gold at the end of September 2025 is up about 18%. Someone who bought at the end of February 2026 is down about 16%. Same metal, same year.

Silver against gold

One way to compare the two is the gold-to-silver ratio: how many grams of silver one gram of gold buys.

• A year ago it was about 82.
• At silver's peak in January it had fallen to about 44.
• On 1 October 2026 it was about 68.

Silver gained on gold over the year, but gave back more than half of that gain after January.

The longer view

Five years ago, on 1 October 2021, gold was about ₹41,946 per 10 grams and silver about ₹53,740 per kg on the same basis. Gold has roughly tripled since (about 25% a year); silver is up about three and a half times (about 28% a year).

Those are unusually strong five years, and part of them is the currency rather than the metal.

How much of it was the rupee

Gold and silver are priced in dollars. A rupee price rises when the metal rises, and also when the rupee falls.

Over the year to 1 October 2026 the dollar went from about ₹88.7 to about ₹96.3, a rise of 8.6%. Taking that out, gold rose about 7% in dollar terms and silver about 28%.

So roughly half of gold's 16.7% rupee gain this year was the rupee weakening. Over five years the dollar went from about ₹74 to about ₹96, so the same is true of the longer record.

What this does not tell you

A year's return is not next year's. The same twelve months contain a 44% rise and an 11.6% one-day fall in gold, and a 158% rise and a 31.5% one-day fall in silver.

Silver is the rougher ride. It rose more and fell more. Its price also leans on industrial demand in a way gold's does not.

Spot is not what you earn. Jewellery carries making charges you do not get back. Gold ETFs and gold funds carry an expense ratio and track the domestic price, which includes duty.

Where to go from here

The gold and silver price page has today's rate for every common weight and a five-year chart.

On how to hold gold, see gold funds and gold ETFs and SGB vs gold ETF. On how much of it belongs in a portfolio, see debt and gold as shock absorbers.