You can’t wear an ETF: Designers fight for Dhanteras gold
Global ETFs drew a record $31b or Dh114b in Q3, but designers say buyers want real gold
Dubai: Global gold ETFs drew a record $31 billion or Dh114 billion in the third quarter, yet jewellery designers say Indian families in the UAE will still buy physical gold for Dhanteras. There is no doubt that ETF buying is booming, but jewellery designers argue it serves a different buyer.
The World Gold Council (WGC) reports that physically backed funds or ETFs took in $10 billion or Dh36.7 billion in September alone. Holdings rose 67 tonnes to a record 4,256 tonnes. Assets under management slipped 7 per cent to $574 billion or Dh2.11 trillion because the gold price fell during the month.
The year has not been smooth. Gold gained 14 per cent in January, then posted its weakest month in almost 13 years in March. June cut more than 11 per cent from the price, taking it to around $4,000 an ounce (Dh14,690). August delivered a 13 per cent rebound to $4,386.
And ETF flows tracked those very moves. Holdings peaked at 4,176 tonnes on February 27, then eased. Outflows hit in May and June. July reversed them with $3 billion of inflows, and August added $18 billion ]. Inflows reached $29 billion for the year by the end of August.
Are Indians eyeing ETFs
The story was no different in India, where traditionally buyers prefer physical gold. Indian funds attracted $496.2 million (Dh1.82 billion) in September and $4.71 billion (Dh17.3 billion) so far in 2026. That ranks the country third worldwide, behind the UK and China.
Interestingly, Indian investment demand rose 54 per cent year on year in the first quarter, while jewellery demand by weight fell 19 per cent, according to WGC data. It was the wedding-related buying that held firm through the summer.
Designers see the difference
Amreen Iqbal, founder of Piece of You Jewellery, says physical gold still wins at Dhanteras. “The ritual, the blessing and the act of receiving a tangible piece cannot be replicated on a screen,” she says. Some customers use both, she adds, but the products solve different problems.
“Our customers are not buying a price exposure,” Iqbal notes. “They are buying a milestone, a gift or a piece of family history.” Personalised work sits outside any fund’s reach. “A name in gold or a child’s initials in diamonds is not something an app can deliver.”
Panos Melekkis, the Cypriot founder of Panos Melekkis Jewellery, separates gold as an investment from gold as jewellery. ETFs and digital gold suit people who want financial exposure, he explains. They do not suit wedding days or family gifts.
“You cannot wear an ETF to your wedding, give digital gold as a beautiful piece of jewellery to your daughter, or pass it down through generations as a treasured family heirloom,” Melekkis argues. Dhanteras and Diwali carry tradition and prosperity beyond a metal’s price. “I don’t see digital gold as a direct competitor to fine jewellery.”
Designer Rasha Mansour accepts that the investment numbers are strong. Her reading is more cautious. “I would not interpret this as the end of physical jewellery,” she says. Festival purchases represent prosperity and family continuity, she said.
Mansour sees the opening for brands in meaning rather than metal. “An investment product can track gold; it cannot replace the personal significance of a piece of jewellery chosen to mark a moment or carry a story.”
Dhanteras arrives on November 6 this year. Designers are betting that buyers who own an ETF will still want a piece they can hold, wear and give as gifts. Sweetening the deal this year is the lower prices as compared to last year, giving an opportunity for shoppers to diversify their portfolios as well as loosen their purse strings.
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