What is Gold BeES and how does it work?

By Team Gullak

Apr 4, 2025

4 min read

Gold BeES is one of the most popular ways for Indian investors to invest in gold digitally, without holding physical gold. If you’re looking to diversify your portfolio or hedge against inflation, you might have already come across this asset.

In this article, we’ll break down what is Gold BeES, how it functions, its benefits, and how you can invest in it through your regular Demat account.

What is Gold BeES

Gold BeES or Gold Benchmark Exchange Traded Schemes are open-ended ETFs whose goal is to mimic the price movement of physical gold. Gold BeAS is a gold ETF and one of the oldest and most traded ETFs.

1 unit of Gold BeES is equivalent to 0.01 gram of physical gold. They can be bought on stock market investment apps and do not have any lock-in periods

What is Gold BeES - Working and behind the scenes

When you buy a unit of Gold BeES, you’re essentially buying 0.01 gm gold of 99.5% purity. This unit is stored with a custodian on behalf of the bank. Like you, multiple other investors are buying units of this asset. This fund is then used to buy physical gold and you benefit from gold price appreciation.

Key Features of Gold BeES -

Feature	Description
Underlying Asset	99.5% pure physical gold
Minimum Investment	As low as the price of 1 unit (~1 gram of gold)
Liquidity	Highly liquid — traded on NSE/BSE
Expense Ratio	~0.5% (can vary slightly)
Taxation	LTCG after 3 years - 12.5%

Gold BeES performance

The Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd. (AMC) runs Nippon India ETF Gold BeES. The Fund was launched on 19th March 2007 at a price of ₹10/unit.

Here’s the historical performance of the fund:

Fund	1 year returns	3 year returns	5 year returns	Returns since inception
Nippon India ETF Gold BeES	26.07%	67.71%	89.35%	658.5%

Updated as of 4th April 2025

How to Invest in Gold BeES?

Investing in Gold BeES is extremely simple. Use the steps below to get started:

Open a Demat and trading account with any broker (Zerodha, Groww, Upstox, etc.).
Search for "Gold BeES" on the trading platform.
Enter the number of units and place your buy order.
Once bought, units are credited to your Demat account just like shares

What is the difference between Gold BeES and Gold ETFs?

Gold ETF, or Gold Exchange Traded Fund, is a commodity-based Mutual Fund that invests in assets like gold. Gold ETFs hold assets like Gold Bullions or futures contracts. The ETF price is directly linked to gold price. So, if there’s any movement in gold price, the price of the gold ETF will follow a similar pattern. Gold BeES are a type of Gold ETF and follow the same patterns as other Gold ETFs.

How do Gold BeES perform against other gold assets?

There are 4 main gold assets - Gold BeES(performs similar to gold ETFS), physical gold, digital gold, Gullak Gold+. In the section below we will compare these 4 gold assets

Note: For this discussion, we have excluded Sovereign Gold Bonds since they have been discontinued by the government.

Factor	Gold BeES	Physical Gold	Digital Gold	Gullak Gold+
Returns	Average gold price appreciation	Average gold price appreciation	Average gold price appreciation	Average gold price appreciation + Extra 5% Gold every year
Extra Gold	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Extra 5% pa
Liquidity	Highly liquid: Withdraw as cash anytime	Liquid: Can be sold for cash but requires some manual effort in selling existing physical gold	Highly liquid: Withdraw as cash anytime	Highly liquid: Withdraw as cash or gold coins or redeem gold jewellery at India’s top jewellers
Modes of Investment	Monthly SIPs or one-time investments	one-time investments	SIPs or one-time investments	Daily/Weekly/Monthly SIPs or one-time investments
Minimum Investment	1 Unit(currently trending at ₹75)	Gold coins can be bought with 0.1 grams	₹10	₹100/day

Get Higher Returns than Gold BeES

Explore Gullak Gold+

Conclusion

If you’ve ever wondered what is Gold BeES, it’s essentially a simple, transparent, and efficient way to invest in gold digitally. As one of the oldest and most traded gold ETFs in India, Gold BeES mirrors the performance of physical gold while offering the convenience of stock market investing. It eliminates the hassles of storage, ensures high purity (99.5%), and offers liquidity with no lock-in period.

For investors looking to diversify their portfolio or hedge against inflation, understanding what is Gold BeES and how it works can be a powerful addition to your financial toolkit. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned investor, Gold BeES combines the trust of gold with the flexibility of ETFs—making it a smart choice for modern-day investing.

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