Gold Fund Subscriptions Stopped: AMC Tracker (Oct 2026)

What happened today

On the evening of 15 October 2026, fund houses began sending out notice cum addenda that shut the door on new money in their gold funds. HDFC, ICICI Prudential, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Tata, DSP and Invesco have all published notices so far. More AMCs are expected to follow tonight and tomorrow morning.

DSP Mutual Fund's notice says it plainly: the restriction is being put in place in line with "the directions received from SEBI." The other notices don't give a reason. SEBI has not yet posted a public circular on its circulars page. We will link it here once it is out.

AMC tracker: gold fund subscriptions stopped

We are adding circulars as AMCs publish them. If your AMC has published a notice that is missing here, send it to us and we will add it.

The simplest way to read the list: if a fund of funds holds gold, it's being shut. That includes combined gold-silver FoFs like HDFC Gold Silver Passive FOF, since part of every rupee there goes into gold. Pure silver funds and gold ETFs themselves are not in any notice so far.

What exactly is stopped

The notices are close to identical. From 16 October 2026 (after the 15 October cut-off for HDFC and Invesco), these schemes will not accept:

1. Lumpsum purchases, including switch-ins from other schemes

2. New SIP registrations

3. New STP registrations where the gold scheme is the target

4. IDCW transfer-in from other schemes

5. Top-ups on existing SIPs and STPs

The wording varies a little. HDFC, Tata, DSP and Invesco call it temporary and "till further notice". ICICI Prudential and Aditya Birla Sun Life say fresh subscriptions are "discontinued" and don't mention a time frame. None gives an end date. The June 2026 gold curbs, by comparison, were a ₹10 lakh monthly cap rather than a full stop.

Applications received before the cut-off on 15 October will be processed. DSP says late applications may be rejected and the money refunded.

What still works for investors

Existing SIPs and STPs continue. Every notice so far says instalments registered before the cut-off will keep getting processed. Only the top-up feature is switched off. Invesco adds that when subscriptions reopen, the SIP amount will go back to the base as on 15 October, without any top-ups that would have kicked in during the pause.

Redemptions are not restricted. HDFC, Tata and Invesco explicitly allow redemptions, switch-outs and SWPs. None of the other notices limits withdrawals.

Gold ETFs are not in the notices. The restrictions so far apply to fund of funds, which are the route most investors without a demat account use. Gold ETFs bought on NSE or BSE through a demat account are not covered by any of these notices.

There's a catch to watch for. If FoF investors move to the exchange, or if ETF unit creation is restricted later, gold ETF prices can drift above their underlying value. We saw this in 2024, when SEBI asked AMCs to stop inflows into overseas ETFs and some of them traded at large premiums. Zerodha Varsity's explainer on international ETFs covers what happened then. Anyone buying a gold ETF on the exchange over the next few weeks should check the iNAV before placing the order.

Pure silver funds are open, for now. No AMC has restricted a silver-only ETF or silver ETF FoF as of publishing. Expect other gold-silver FoFs to follow HDFC, though. Several AMCs run one, and the gold portion puts them in the same bucket.

Multi-asset funds are not covered. Funds that hold some gold alongside equity and debt aren't named in any notice. They remain open.

Has this ever happened with gold funds before?

Not like this. This is the first time SEBI has told AMCs to stop taking fresh money into gold funds. There have been two softer episodes in the last year, both started by fund houses themselves, and one older case where the RBI went after gold fund purchases indirectly.

2013: the RBI targets gold buying

The last time gold imports worried policymakers this much was 2012-13, when the current account deficit hit a record. The government raised import duty in steps. In February 2013, the RBI reiterated that banks should not grant any advance for purchase of gold in any form, and the circular named units of gold ETFs and gold mutual funds specifically. The stated reason was the sharp rise in gold imports.

So even in 2013, the gold fund route was on the regulator's radar. But the RBI only cut off borrowed money. Gold funds stayed open for anyone paying with their own savings. Business Standard's coverage from January 2013 reads a lot like the news of the last six months.

October 2025: the silver crunch

Exactly a year ago, Kotak, UTI, SBI, Axis, Tata, Aditya Birla Sun Life and Groww paused lumpsum investments in their silver ETF FoFs. Festive demand and a global squeeze had made physical silver hard to find in India. Silver ETFs traded 5-12% above global benchmark prices, and anyone who bought at that premium lost it within days once supply caught up. Fund houses reopened within about two weeks. This was a supply problem, not a policy one.

June 2026: the first gold curbs

In early June, HDFC, ICICI Prudential, Nippon India, Tata, Axis and Aditya Birla Sun Life capped fresh money in gold ETFs and gold FoFs. Direct ETF orders of ₹25 crore and above were refused. Gold FoF lumpsum and switch-ins were capped at ₹10 lakh per PAN per month. SIPs were left alone. The curbs were lifted around 21 August as pressure on the rupee eased.

Today's move goes further on every count: it comes from the regulator, there's no ticket size below which you're allowed in, and new SIPs are blocked too.

Why would SEBI stop gold fund subscriptions? Our read

SEBI hasn't explained the direction publicly, and none of the AMC notices gives a reason. What follows is our reading of the events of the last six months, not an official explanation.

1. The government has been trying to cut gold imports since May. On 13 May 2026, import duty on gold and silver went from 6% to 15%, as West Asia tensions pushed up oil prices. India's gold import bill was nearly $72 billion in FY26. The current account deficit had widened from 0.2% of GDP to 1.3% within three quarters. Around the same time, the Prime Minister asked citizens to avoid buying new gold for a year.

2. Gold ETFs kept pulling in money anyway. Every unit of a gold ETF is backed by physical gold that the AMC has to buy. So a rupee going into a gold ETF is, in effect, demand for imported gold. Gold ETFs took in about ₹45,925 crore between January and September 2026, already more than the roughly ₹43,000 crore for all of 2025, which was itself a record year.

3. Lifting the June curbs brought the flows straight back. Gold ETF inflows jumped 71% month on month to ₹4,450 crore in September, the first full month after the curbs went. If the regulator was watching that number, a second and harder stop isn't a surprise.

4. The June caps had a gap. They hit large tickets but left SIPs and small lumpsums alone. Gold SIPs have become a mass retail habit, and gold ETF folios grew 53% in the first eleven months of 2025. A ₹10 lakh cap does nothing about lakhs of ₹5,000 SIPs. Stopping new SIP registrations does.

5. Diwali is a few weeks away. Dhanteras is the biggest gold-buying week of the year. Shutting the FoF channel before it limits a festive spike in demand for imported gold.

Why not silver? Silver was part of the May duty hike too, so it's a fair question. Our guess is scale: gold ETFs took in close to double what silver ETFs did in 2025 (about ₹43,000 crore against ₹24,200 crore). If the aim is the import bill, gold is where the money is. Silver could still follow.

My guess is that this lasts longer than the June curbs. Those were AMC-led and temporary by design. This one comes from the regulator and closes new SIPs too. Reopening will probably depend on the rupee and the import bill, not on anything AMCs control. We will update this section once SEBI or AMFI says more.

What MFDs should do this week

I'd keep it simple with clients. Most will hear "gold funds stopped" on WhatsApp and assume their money is stuck. It isn't.

• Call clients with running gold FoF SIPs. Tell them the SIP continues and their units are safe. Make sure they don't cancel and re-register, because a new registration will be rejected.

• Pause pending lumpsum orders and STPs into these schemes. Anything submitted after the cut-off will bounce.

• Watch ETF premiums. If a client insists on adding gold, compare the ETF's market price with its iNAV first.

• Don't push alternatives in a hurry. Physical gold, digital gold and SGB secondary market purchases each have their own costs and risks. Take that call client by client.

On Creso, we are flagging affected schemes so that orders don't fail midway. We will update the platform as each AMC's notice comes in.