New Delhi: It's the festive season and lot of Indians, especially women, are buying up jewellery - but hold on as all that is gold in the true sense of the word is not necessarily something you can wear.

Vandana like any other woman loves buying gold jewellery. Adding to her cheer is the belief that gold is a good investment. But experts have a different view.

Religare Head Commodities Jayant Manglik says, "Gold is an accessory but keeping gold in stock markets is better."

India consumes nearly 800 tonne of gold accounting for about 20 per cent of the world gold consumption annually, of which nearly 600 tonne goes into making jewellery.

If you are buying gold jewellery for sheer cheer of looking good go ahead, but if the aim is to add glitter to your investment portfolio, there are better options available.

Invest in gold coins, bars and biscuits. They are available from authorised banks and dealers. The advantage here is the low or negligible making charge. There is also lesser risk of impurity.

Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) allow you to invest in the gold bullion market without holding the metal physically.

Gold ETFs are traded in units, with each unit representing approximately one gram of gold. These are listed and traded like stocks on stock exchanges.

You can also invest through the Multi Commodity exchange and the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange- the MCX and NCDEX. Gold futures contracts of 100 grams and 1 Kg are available on these exchanges.

If you want to invest in Gold ETFs but avoid price fluctuations, look at a Systematic Investment Plan.

Your jewellery, gold coins or bars can earn money for you through a Gold Deposit Scheme. This needs a minimum deposit of 200 gm, and you will get your gold back in the form of biscuits at the prevailing gold price. This scheme is free from wealth tax and capital gains tax.

The good news is that in India, gold is not as expensive as it is globally. The rupee has strengthened 10 per cent since October 2006. Which means that while gold prices are going up in dollar terms, the percentage impact will be much less.