Uday Kotak says the Indian housewife is 'smartest fund manager in the world'. Sridhar Vembu reacts

Both Uday Kotak and Sridhar Vembu emphasised upon the resilience of gold as an asset. (Image credit: X)

As gold prices rallied to hit Rs 1 lakh per 10-gram mark, Uday Kotak took to social media to highlight the role of Indian housewives. He called them "the smartest fund manager in the world" because of their preference to invest in the yellow metal above all else.

In a post on X, the founder and director of Kotak Mahindra Bank emphasised the resilience of gold as an asset. "The performance of gold over time highlights that the Indian housewife is the smartest fund manager in the world," he wrote. "Governments, central banks, economists, who support pump priming, high deficit funding, may need to take a leaf from India, a net importer of store of value forever!"

His take received a mixed response on social media as people argued that Indian housewives collected gold to compensate for their lack of financial autonomy and also to safeguard against rupee volatility, but among those who supported Kotak's perspective was Zoho co-founder and chief scientist Sridhar Vembu.

"I agree wholeheartedly with Uday Kotak-ji. Indians' love of gold and a corresponding distrust of paper assets is the foundation of our long term stability and civilizational continuity," he wrote on X. "Money is too important to be left to central banks and governments and PhD economists and their fancy theories (or software engineers for that matter and I am looking at you Bitcoin)."

Vembu added that as global economic conditions get worse, India's stability will come from gold. "Gold IS money. The poorest Indian knows this and that knowledge is power," he said.

Gold rates in India surged in the spot market on Tuesday ahead of Akshaya Tritiya on April 30 and a sharp rally in the global markets. The 24-karat gold jumped Rs 1,650 to Rs 99,800 per 10 grams in Delhi. A goods and services tax (GST) is also imposed in the retail market along with the making charges which takes the total buying price to over Rs 1 lakh.

Gold prices surged to new record highs globally, as investor demand for the safe-haven asset rose amid fresh concerns over political tensions in the United States. The rise followed US President Donald Trump's criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, which weakened market sentiment and pushed investors towards bullion.