What if the Rs 1 lakh you received from your brother last Rakhi had been invested instead of spent? One year later, the answer would depend heavily on where the money was invested. While a fixed deposit would have delivered a modest return, silver would have more than doubled the value of the gift. Gold and mid-cap stocks would also have generated strong gains, while the Nifty delivered a marginal loss.
Among the Indian assets tracked, silver emerged as the clear winner with a staggering 108% return. This means that a Rs 1 lakh investment in silver last Rakhi would be worth Rs 2.08 lakh today.
In other words, the investment would have generated a profit of Rs 1.08 lakh in a year.
Gold was the second-best performing asset in the comparison, delivering a 55.92% return. A Rs 1 lakh investment in gold would have grown to Rs 1,55,920.
Mid-cap stocks also delivered a strong performance. The Nifty Midcap 150 gained 28.26% over the period, taking the value of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1,28,260. The Smallcap 250 delivered an 11.55% return, meaning Rs 1 lakh invested in the index would now be worth Rs 1,11,550.
Retail sugar prices increased 37.70%, which would have taken the equivalent value of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1,37,700.
A fixed deposit, meanwhile, would have generated a 6.25% return, taking Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1,06,250.
At the bottom of the Indian asset list was the Nifty. The benchmark index delivered a negative 0.86% return over the year, meaning the Rs 1 lakh investment would have slipped to Rs 99,140.
The numbers make silver the standout Indian asset over the past year. A 108% return means the precious metal not only preserved the value of the hypothetical Rakhi gift but more than doubled it.
Gold also delivered a significant gain, highlighting the strong performance of precious metals during the period. The performance of mid-cap stocks was another notable feature, with the Nifty Midcap 150 substantially outperforming the broader Nifty.
What If The Rakhi Gift Was $1,000?
The global comparison presents a more mixed picture. If your brother had given you $1,000 last Rakhi and you had invested it in Brent crude, the amount would have risen by 31.84% to $1,318.
The Nasdaq 100 delivered a 23.77% return, taking the value of the hypothetical $1,000 gift to $1,238. The S&P 500 gained 20.13%, meaning the investment would now be worth $1,201.
The dollar index was relatively stable, gaining 1.04%. A $1,000 investment would therefore be worth around $1,010.
Bitcoin, however, delivered the weakest performance among the global assets tracked. The cryptocurrency fell 31.10%, reducing the hypothetical $1,000 investment to just $689.
The gap between the best and worst-performing global assets is striking.
A $1,000 investment in Brent would have generated a gain of $318, while the same amount invested in Bitcoin would have lost $311. This means the difference between the two investments would be $629 over the one-year period.
Overall, the Rakhi-return comparison highlights how dramatically asset classes can perform differently over the same period. In India, silver was the clear winner, while the Nifty was the weakest performer. Globally, Brent crude topped the list, while Bitcoin emerged as the biggest laggard.
Of course, past returns do not guarantee future performance, and actual investment returns would also depend on taxes, transaction costs and the specific investment product used. But the hypothetical exercise offers one takeaway: if that Rakhi gift had been invested last year, where it was invested could have made a huge difference to its value today.
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