Gold has gone from ₹3,000 per 10 grams to ₹1.5 lakh in a single generation. It has never gone to zero. And yet most Indians still think of gold primarily as something you buy for a wedding, store in a locker, and pull out in an emergency. On this episode of The HJ Show, host Harsh Joshi sits down with Laleet Soni, Founder of Goldbites, to challenge that thinking entirely — and to explain how anyone in India can now buy gold from ₹20, store it digitally, and get it delivered home.
The Idea That Came From a Lockdown
Laleet’s gold business predates Goldbites — he was already in the gold trade, running it the traditional way. When COVID hit and shops shut overnight, he found himself sitting at home like everyone else, thinking. Some people watched Netflix. Laleet thought about how to move his business online. He ran a pilot. The response was good. He kept building. And by the time things opened up again, Goldbites existed — a platform where buying, selling, storing, and home-delivering gold could all happen without the customer ever leaving their home.
The problem Goldbites solves is simple but significant. If you want to buy ₹500 worth of gold, or sell ₹2,000 worth, or order a small gold coin to your home — the traditional gold market has no real infrastructure for that. You go to a jeweller for large purchases. Small transactions were largely ignored. Goldbites stepped into that gap.
What Most People Get Wrong About Gold
Before getting into the Goldbites app, Laleet spends considerable time in the episode breaking down the basics of gold that most buyers simply do not know. Starting with HUID — Hallmark Unique Identification — a mandatory identification number that must appear on every piece of gold sold legally in India. If the gold you are buying does not have a HUID, you should not buy it. Full stop.
He also walks through the carat system — from 9 carat all the way to 24 carat — explaining what each means, which carats are used for jewellery versus investment, and why 24 carat is pure gold while 22 carat (used in most Indian jewellery) contains alloys for durability. Understanding this distinction alone prevents most of the common mistakes people make when buying gold for investment purposes.
Digital Gold vs Physical Gold
One of the most practically valuable parts of the conversation is Laleet’s explanation of digital gold — what it actually is and how it works. When you buy digital gold on a platform like Goldbites, you are buying real, physical gold that is stored in a secured vault on your behalf. The gold is yours. It is allocated in your name. You can sell it back on the platform at any time, partially or fully. Or you can choose to redeem it — at which point the actual physical gold is packaged in tamper-proof, insured packaging and delivered to your home through Indian Post or other trusted courier partners.
The transparency is complete — every transaction generates a bill on WhatsApp, an email confirmation, and a wallet update on the app. There is no ambiguity about what you bought, at what price, or how much you have.
Why People Fear Online Gold — And Why That Is Changing
Laleet is honest about the biggest barrier Goldbites faces: trust. Gold is something most Indians have only ever experienced physically — seen it, held it, worn it, stored it in a locker. Shifting to digital is a psychological change as much as a practical one. Add to that the fact that scams exist in the digital space, and it becomes understandable why adoption has been slow. But he is confident the shift is happening. Currently around 10-20% of gold buyers are comfortable going digital. He believes that number will reach 70-75% within a few years, driven largely by GenZ — a generation that already banks, invests, and pays entirely on their phones.
The Investment Case for Gold
The episode ends with perhaps its most useful segment — the investment case for gold. Laleet argues, with data, that gold has consistently delivered 20-25% annual returns over the long term. A portfolio allocation of 40% in gold, he suggests, is not conservative — it is strategic. Gold is liquid (you can sell it instantly), it can be pledged for a gold loan (the fastest and cheapest loan available in India), it is globally recognised, and unlike equities or real estate, it has never crashed to zero.
The SIP for gold that Goldbites enables — starting from as little as ₹20 per day — makes this asset class genuinely accessible for the first time to people who previously thought gold investment required large, one-time purchases.
Watch the full episode of The HJ Show with Laleet Soni on YouTube, or listen on Spotify and Amazon Music.
