Silver ETFs in India

What a silver ETF is

A silver ETF (exchange-traded fund) is a fund that aims to track the price of silver. You buy and sell its units on a stock exchange through a demat and trading account, the way you would buy a share. Each unit represents a small amount of silver held by the fund.

Silver ETF or physical silver?

• Storage and safety: an ETF has no locker or purity worries. Physical silver needs safe storage.
• Purity: an ETF's silver is meant to be fine silver. With physical silver you rely on the seller's purity and hallmark.
• Buying costs: physical silver usually carries a premium over the market rate, and jewellery adds making charges. An ETF has fund costs and trading charges instead.
• Selling: an ETF sells at the market price on the exchange. Physical silver sells at the buyer's offer, often after a deduction.
• Use: you cannot wear or gift an ETF. Physical silver can be used, gifted or kept as an object.

What to compare before you invest

• Expense ratio: the yearly fee charged by the fund.
• Tracking difference: how closely the fund followed the silver price in the past.
• Liquidity: how easily units trade, and the gap between buying and selling prices.
• How the fund holds silver, and what its documents say about it.
• Tax: the tax rules for the fund and for physical silver differ and change. Check the current rules or ask a tax adviser.

Read the fund's official scheme documents, and check the numbers on the fund house's own website, before you decide.

Try the numbers

Use the silver investment calculator to see how buying costs, selling costs and price changes affect a result. It is an illustration, not a forecast.

This page is general information, not investment advice. Silver prices can fall as well as rise, and you can lose money.