What If You Bought Gold And Silver Every Dhanteras For 21 Years?

What 1 gram of gold and 100 grams of silver, bought every Dhanteras since 2005, are worth today

FinTech BizNews Service       

Mumbai, 06 November, 2026: Every Dhanteras, millions of Indian households buy a little gold or silver, whether as a coin, a small bar or a few grams of jewellery. But what if that annual tradition had been followed consistently for more than two decades? 

Kotak Neo looked back at 21 Dhanteras days from 2005 to 2025 and asked a simple question: what would have

happened if someone had bought just 1 gram of gold and 100 grams of silver every Dhanteras bought on each of the 21 Dhanteras days from 2005 to 2025, at the prevailing spot price, and simply held.

The answer, valued at Thursday’s prices (5 November 2026), is below. The 21 grams of gold cost Rs76,246 in all and are worth Rs3,02,400 today - 3.97 times the money put in, a gain of Rs2,26,154. 

The 2.1 kilograms of silver cost Rs1,05,329 and are worth Rs3,94,800 — 3.75 times, a gain of Rs2,89,471. Put as an annual growth rate on the actual dated purchases, gold compounded at 15.4% a year and silver at 13.8% a year.

At a glance

Year by year: what each purchase cost, and how many times it has multiplied

Multiple = value of that year’s purchase at today’s price ÷ what it cost. The earliest gram, bought for Rs700 in 2005, is worth Rs14,400 today — 20.6 times. Gold bought in the 2011–2013 highs still multiplied 4.6–5.4 times; the 2025 purchase is up 11% in a year.

Anindya Banerjee, Head of Commodity and Currency Research, said, “Dhanteras offers an interesting way to look at the intersection of tradition and long-term investing. Over these 21 years, gold and silver have been through several market cycles, but a small and consistent annual purchase would still have accumulated meaningful value. The lesson is not that investors should buy precious metals simply because prices have risen. It is that consistency, patience and appropriate asset allocation can matter more than trying to time every market move. Gold and silver can play a role in a diversified portfolio, but that allocation should ultimately be guided by an investor’s goals and risk appetite.” 

How we did it

• Prices are MCX Ahmedabad spot for gold (995, Rs per 10 g) and silver (Rs per kg), averaged over the day’s polls, on Dhanteras — or the preceding Friday when it fell on a weekend (2005, 2008, 2012, 2022, 2025).
• Value today uses gold at Rs1,44,000 per 10 g and silver at Rs1,88,000 per kg on 5 November 2026; making charges, GST and storage are not included.
• “Grew every year by” is the annualised return on the 21 dated purchases (the XIRR), valued today. Past performance is not indicative of future returns.

Source: MCX India & Kotak Neo FICC Research Desk

Disclaimer: https://www.kotakneo.com/disclaimer/commodities/