Halal Gold ETF in India (2026): Which Gold ETFs Pass and Is Tata Gold ETF Halal

Every major Indian gold ETF holds roughly 98 percent of its assets in physical gold of 0.995 fineness and the rest in cash, triparty repo or short-term debt, and none is Shariah certified. On the gold itself they pass: the fund owns allocated bars in a vault and your unit is a claim on them. The two live questions are the 1 to 2 percent parked in interest-bearing cash, which you purify, and a clause in every scheme document allowing up to 20 percent of assets to be lent to banks under the Gold Deposit Scheme, which would be an interest-bearing loan of gold if used. Tata Gold ETF is structurally the same as the rest, with the lowest published expense ratio at 0.30 percent. Our structure-level gold verdict covers physical, digital and sovereign gold bonds.

What makes a gold ETF halal or not

Gold is a ribawi commodity in fiqh: it must be exchanged for money at spot, with possession passing promptly, and it cannot be lent for a return. A gold ETF passes the first test if the fund actually buys and holds allocated physical gold and your unit represents ownership of a share of it, which is how every Indian gold ETF is designed; the units trade on NSE and BSE at a price tracking domestic gold, and the fund publishes a portfolio showing bars by fineness. It fails the third test if the fund lends its gold for a return, and it raises a purification question wherever it holds cash in instruments that earn interest, such as triparty repo (TREPS), reverse repo or treasury bills.

The practical test for an Indian investor is therefore three lines in the latest factsheet and one clause in the Scheme Information Document:

• What percentage of the portfolio is physical gold, and at what fineness.
• What percentage is cash, triparty repo, reverse repo or treasury bills, because that share earns interest and needs purifying.
• Whether any gold is reported as placed in a bank's Gold Deposit Scheme or Gold Monetisation Scheme.
• Whether the SID permits that placement at all, and up to what limit.

The investing hub and our list of Indian halal ETFs cover equity ETFs; this page is only about gold.

SEBI's rules: 95 percent in gold, and the deposit scheme clause

SEBI's Master Circular for Mutual Funds requires a gold ETF to hold at least 95 percent of its assets in gold and gold-related instruments, and it defines gold-related instruments to include the Gold Deposit Scheme of banks, the Gold Monetisation Scheme 2015 and exchange-traded commodity derivatives with gold as the underlying. Scheme documents filed on sebi.gov.in, such as the Mirae Asset Gold ETF SID dated 29 November 2025, reproduce clause 3.2.1.5 of the 27 June 2024 Master Circular: cumulative exposure to GDS, GMS and gold ETCDs 'shall not exceed 50% of net asset value', and within that 'the investment limit for GDS and GMS as part of gold related instrument shall not exceed 20% of net asset value of the scheme'.

That clause is the Shariah problem in waiting. A gold deposit with a bank is a loan of gold that returns gold plus a payment, which is riba al-fadl in the clearest form, and SEBI permits a gold ETF to put a fifth of its assets into it. Tata's KIM, SBI's SID and the Mirae document all carry the clause. What the factsheets we fetched show is that none of the seven funds below currently reports any GDS or GMS holding; their non-gold assets are cash, repo and net current assets at 1 to 2 percent. So the funds pass today on their portfolios and carry a permission they are not using. The same documents note that derivative exposure to gold is a back-up for exceptional circumstances rather than the normal method.

Seven Indian gold ETFs, fund by fund

The table uses each AMC's own scheme page or most recent factsheet that we could fetch, and the date of each figure is given because gold ETF cash levels and expense ratios move. Where a fund page does not print a number, the cell says so rather than borrowing one from a third-party site.

Two funds need explaining. Nippon India ETF Gold BeES is the oldest and, by the AUM figures other AMCs cite, the largest, but its fund page on mf.nipponindiaim.com prints NAV, returns and the statement that it invests in physical gold without printing the expense ratio or the portfolio split; you must open the factsheet or the abridged report for those, and we did not quote figures we did not fetch. HDFC Gold ETF's live page lists AUM of Rs 23,899.78 crore on 30 September 2026 and describes bullion of 0.995 fineness, but links to a separate TER table rather than printing the ratio, so the 0.59 percent in the table is from its January 2024 factsheet and should be rechecked.

Is Tata Gold ETF halal?

On its published structure, yes, with the same two caveats as every other fund in the table. Tata Gold Exchange Traded Fund was allotted on 12 January 2024, had Rs 6,178.13 crore under management on 20 September 2026, carries no exit load, and its scheme page shows an expense ratio of 0.30 percent as on 31 August 2026, the lowest of the seven. Its Key Information Memorandum states that the scheme 'will invest at least 95% of its total assets in the Gold or Gold related instruments' and 'may hold up to 5% of their total assets in debt or money market securities', with gold-related instruments defined by reference to SEBI's circular to include GDS, GMS and ETCDs within the 50 percent and 20 percent limits.

So Tata Gold ETF is a physically backed fund whose document permits gold lending and derivatives that it does not report using. The halal answer is the same as for Nippon or SBI: hold it, purify the cash share, and watch the monthly portfolio for any GDS, GMS or ETCD line. It is not a certified product, and the Tata Mutual Fund profile is the place to check whether that changes. The question people also ask, whether Tata's gold ETF is 'more halal' than the others because the AMC runs Tata Ethical Fund, has a plain answer: no, the ethical fund's screen does not extend to the gold ETF, and the KIM contains no Shariah language at all.

Is any Indian gold ETF Shariah certified?

No. None of the seven fund pages, KIMs, SIDs or factsheets we fetched mentions a Shariah board, a certificate, TASIS or any screening body, and no AMC markets its gold ETF as Islamic. That is not a mark against them; gold is a commodity and the compliance question is structural rather than a matter of certification. It does mean that nobody at the fund is checking the three tests on your behalf, so you do it from the factsheet, and the screening apps that cover Indian equities mostly do not rate gold ETFs at all. The Nippon India Mutual Fund profile is the natural first stop because Gold BeES is the fund most Indian halal investors already hold.

Silver ETFs and gold fund-of-funds

Silver is the other ribawi metal and the analysis is identical: a silver ETF that holds allocated physical silver passes on the metal, raises the same purification point on cash, and carries whatever lending clause its SID allows. Nippon India Silver ETF and ICICI Prudential Silver ETF, both launched in early 2022 according to their AMCs' pages, are the two we saw named on fetched documents; neither prints a Shariah statement. Treat them exactly as the gold funds, and read the SID clause on silver-related instruments before buying.

Gold fund-of-funds, such as HDFC Gold ETF Fund of Fund, hold units of the AMC's own gold ETF and exist so that investors without a demat account can buy through a normal mutual fund folio. The Shariah position is derivative of the underlying ETF, with one extra layer of expenses; HDFC's FoF page notes that investors bear the FoF's recurring expenses in addition to the ETF's. If you have a demat account, the ETF is the cheaper route; if you do not, the FoF is the only route to the same gold.

When physical or vaulted digital gold is the better route

A gold ETF is the right vehicle for someone who wants gold exposure inside a demat account, in small units, with no storage and no making charges, and who accepts purifying a tiny cash share. It is the wrong vehicle for someone who wants to hold the metal, give it as mahr or jewellery, or avoid the lending clause entirely. For them, bars and coins from a hallmarked dealer are the first choice, and vaulted digital gold with a named custodian is the second, provided payment and allocation are immediate; the Islamicly profile covers one product marketed to Muslim buyers, and our sovereign gold bond verdict explains why the RBI's bonds, which pay interest, are not a substitute.

Zakat on gold ETF units

Gold ETF units are zakatable as gold, because the unit is a claim on allocated gold and tracks its price. On your zakat date, take the units you hold, multiply by the NAV, and treat the result as the market value of gold you own; it is added to any physical gold and jewellery, and 2.5 percent is due if your total zakatable wealth clears nisab. The cash share inside the fund is already counted in the NAV. Our guide to zakat on gold jewellery in India explains the nisab and the household debate, and the zakat hub has the calculator.

Verdict

For an Indian Muslim who wants gold in a demat account, any of the seven funds passes on its published portfolio, and the choice is a cost and liquidity choice: Tata Gold ETF has the lowest printed expense ratio at 0.30 percent, ICICI Prudential at 0.50 percent and Axis at 0.52 percent follow, and Gold BeES has the longest history and the deepest trading. Buy one, purify the proportion of NAV held in repo and debt each year, which is in the range of 1 to 2 percent of the fund and so a few rupees per Rs 10,000 of gain, and check the monthly portfolio for any GDS, GMS or derivative line. If one appears, sell and switch to a fund without it.

For someone who cannot accept holding a product whose own document permits gold lending, even unused, the answer is physical gold or a vaulted digital product with immediate allocation, and no gold ETF will satisfy you. For someone asking specifically about Tata Gold ETF, it is neither better nor worse than the others on Shariah grounds; it is cheaper, newer and smaller, and it carries the same clause. The is-it-halal hub lists the other instruments people confuse with gold ETFs. Facts checked against mf.nipponindiaim.com, tatamutualfund.com, sbimf.com, hdfcfund.com, icicipruamc.com, kotakmf.com, axismf.com, sebi.gov.in on 20 September 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Is investing in a gold ETF halal?

Yes on the published portfolios of India's major gold ETFs, which hold about 98 percent allocated physical gold of 0.995 fineness and 1 to 2 percent in cash and repo. The gold part is a lawful ownership of metal. Purify the cash share, and watch the monthly portfolio for any gold deposit scheme, gold monetisation scheme or derivative holding, which SEBI permits but the funds do not currently report.

Is Tata Gold ETF halal?

On its structure, yes, with the same caveats as every other Indian gold ETF. Its KIM commits at least 95 percent to gold and gold-related instruments and up to 5 percent to debt and money market securities, and permits GDS, GMS and derivatives within SEBI limits without reporting any. It is not Shariah certified and has no link to Tata Ethical Fund's screen. Its expense ratio was 0.30 percent on 31 August 2026.

Which gold ETF is halal in India?

All seven major funds, Nippon Gold BeES, Tata, SBI, HDFC, ICICI Prudential, Kotak and Axis, are structurally equivalent: physical gold with a small cash balance and an unused permission to lend gold. Choose on expense ratio and liquidity: Tata is cheapest at 0.30 percent, ICICI Prudential and Axis follow at 0.50 and 0.52 percent, and Gold BeES is the most traded. None is certified.

Is any Indian gold ETF Shariah certified?

No. None of the scheme pages, KIMs, SIDs or factsheets we fetched mentions a Shariah board, TASIS or a certificate, and no AMC markets a gold ETF as Islamic. Gold compliance is a structural question that you check from the factsheet: percentage in physical gold, percentage in cash and repo, and whether any gold has been placed in a bank deposit scheme or derivative.

Are silver ETFs halal in India?

The same analysis applies: silver is a ribawi metal, a silver ETF that holds allocated physical silver passes on the metal, the cash share is purified, and the SID clause on silver-related instruments should be read before buying. Nippon India Silver ETF and ICICI Prudential Silver ETF, both launched in early 2022, are the two named on documents we fetched; neither carries a Shariah statement.

How do I pay zakat on gold ETF units?

Treat the units as gold. On your zakat date multiply units held by that day's NAV, add the result to your physical gold and jewellery and other zakatable wealth, and pay 2.5 percent if the total clears nisab. The fund's small cash holding is already inside the NAV and needs no separate treatment. Our India zakat guides and the hub calculator handle the nisab conversion.