Households in India's Covid vulnerable districts allocated more gold to their savings portfolio during the pandemic compared to households in other districts, as per a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA).

The shift towards gold is accompanied by a shift away from other financial assets and cash, as per the IIMA working paper titled 'Gold in household portfolios during a pandemic: Evidence from an emerging economy'.

The study, published on IIMA's website on June 30, captured the variation in the intensity of the crisis using two main indicators: Covid cases per 1,000 population, and satellite-based night-time lights intensity.
The survey covered 142 districts across 21 states.