Silver Outpaces Gold with 22% CAGR — What Does It Mean for Retailers?
Around 45% of Gen Z and millennials surveyed said they would prefer investing in silver jewellery, attracted by contemporary design, lower ticket sizes and the ability to make repeat purchases.
Silver is emerging as the fastest-growing precious metal in consumer portfolios — and not just because of a recent price spike. According to Deloitte’s jewellery industry report, silver prices have grown at a compound annual rate of about 22% over the past five years, outpacing gold’s roughly 18% CAGR. The trend reflects a deeper shift in how consumers, particularly younger ones, are buying, wearing and valuing jewellery.
Deloitte’s analysis shows that silver’s rise is tied as much to behaviour as to price. While gold remains India’s cultural and financial anchor, silver is increasingly being added as an 'everyday metal.'
Around 45% of Gen Z and millennials surveyed said they would prefer investing in silver jewellery, attracted by contemporary design, lower ticket sizes and the ability to make repeat purchases across daily wear, gifting and self-purchase occasions. Unlike gold, which is still closely linked to weddings and long-term investment, silver is being used to build a broader, more flexible jewellery wardrobe.
Recent market moves, however, underline silver’s volatility. Prices have jumped sharply in the short term — up about 8.8% in a week, 33% in a month and nearly 59% year-on-year, with gains of over 200% across two years.
The 2025 rally saw spot silver surge past $80 an ounce, driven by strong industrial demand and a fifth straight year of supply deficits. Clean-energy applications and electronics have added to demand momentum, reinforcing silver’s dual role as both adornment and industrial metal.
That volatility also brings risks. December 2025 saw sharp pullbacks after the CME raised futures margin requirements, squeezing speculative long positions. Looking ahead, Citi Research flags commodity index rebalancing between January 8–14 that could lead to $6.8-6.9 billion of outflows from silver, as its weight in the Bloomberg Commodity Index is cut from 9.6% to 3.9%.
For jewellery retailers, Deloitte’s report is clear: silver’s rise should be treated as a portfolio expansion, not a replacement for gold. Silver works best as an entry point for new customers and a frequency driver through seasonal drops and design-led collections, with clear trade-up pathways into higher-value categories such as studded jewellery or gold.
For organised retailers that balance design-led innovation with operational discipline, silver’s faster growth is less a speculative story and more a durable opportunity to deepen customer relationships beyond weddings. Discipline is critical — tight assortment planning, lifecycle management and pricing guardrails are needed to avoid margin dilution during volatile phases.
