November 17, 2025 / 10:31 IST
Digital Gold sales plunge by 80 percent
Purchase of digital gold using UPI has fallen by 61 percent in October, also the year’s lowest level, after multiple warnings of the investment vehicle being unregulated, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India, which runs UPI.
The value of digital gold purchased fell to Rs 550 crore in October, compared to Rs 1,410 crore worth of digital gold sold in September. The average number for 2025 is also about Rs 951 crore.
UPI is the most popular method for buying digital gold in the country.
Digital Gold sales
Regulatory uncertainty
Earlier this month, the markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), warned investors that digital gold is not regulated by any organisation in the country.
In October, several digital influencers who warned customers against buying gold have been popular on social media platforms. In case the platforms selling digital gold shut down their operations, customers will find it difficult to withdraw their money/gold, the influencers said.
The number of gold purchasing transactions also fell from over 100 million in August and September to just 21 million in October, an almost 80 percent decline.
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Rising popularity
The sale of digital gold through payment apps such as Paytm, PhonePe, Jar, Amazon Pay, Google Pay and Tanishq has been steadily rising all year, going up from Rs 762 crore in January this year to Rs 1,410 crore in September.
The rise in gold price and its role as a safe haven, the ease of purchase and accessibility and more importantly, the fractional ownership drove the customers’ interest in digital gold. Customers can buy gold from Re 1 to around Rs 2 lakh per day.
In October, Dhanteras fell on October 18, an auspicious day for purchasing gold. This year, Dhanteras could have been a big year for the online platforms, if not for the messaging across social platforms.
Who holds the gold for customers
Most fintech platforms sell digital gold as a savings or investment product. The gold value is tokenised by companies like MMTC-PAMP or SafeGold. Customers can sell the gold whenever they want.
However, investing in digital gold entails GST, storage cost and platform fees. Meanwhile, Gold ETFs are mutual funds that invest in gold offer the same fractional ownership with fewer charges apart from being regulated by SEBI.