India and Chinese Mainland were positioned second on the list with a 6% wealth allocation in gold by the UHNWIs of the respective countries in 2022. Austria ranked first on the list with 8% allocation. Gold allocation by the Indian ultra-wealthy individuals stood higher than the average allocation of UHNWIs from both global and APAC region. According to the Knight Frank report, in 2022, the average UHNWI wealth allocation in gold was 3% globally and 4% in the Asia Pacific region.
One of the primary reasons for the rise in the allocation to gold by the UHNWIs is the significant returns that gold has provided over the years. The yellow metal has delivered a stellar over 69% returns in the past 5 years (From FY 2019 to FY 2023). The pandemic, resultant low interest rate and easy liquidity strategy adopted by the global central banks gave a massive push to the prices.
Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India said, “In the wake of uncertainties in the global economic landscape, consumers resorted to allocate incremental capital to assets that offer stability and serve as a hedge against inflation. This was captured aptly in the Attitudes Survey in our The Wealth Report 2023, that Indian UHNWIs have allocated higher proportion of wealth to gold (6%) versus the global allocation (3%) in 2022.”