Billionaire businessman Anil Agarwal has thrown his weight behind silver, whose spectacular rally has put the precious metal on the radar of domestic and international investors, who have been pouring in billions in silver-focused mutual funds.

In a social media post, the chairman of commodity giant Vedanta Group said silver has finally come out of the shadow of gold and predicted that the metal’s ‘extraordinary shine’ is here to stay.

Highlighting its growing importance in technology-driven industries, Agarwal noted that silver is unique among metals because it combines intrinsic value with strong functional demand. From solar cells to defence applications, he said, silver is becoming indispensable.

“Prices will go up and down, but silver’s extraordinary shine is here to stay,” Agarwal wrote, pointing out that Hindustan Zinc (HZL), India’s only silver producer, is witnessing this shift first-hand. HZL is majority owned by Agarwal’s Vedanta Group.

While silver prices have skyrocketed — it has breached ₹2 lakh a kilogram in domestic markets — the surge has not been limited to the white metal alone. Gold, platinum and palladium have also seen spikes, but silver has clearly outperformed its peers this year, emerging as the standout among precious metals.

Year to date, silver has surged about 125 per cent in dollar terms, far outpacing gold’s roughly 63 per cent rise over the same period. The rally has translated into tangible financial gains for Vedanta, primarily through Hindustan Zinc, which ranks among the world’s top five silver producers.

Silver, produced as a by-product of lead and zinc mining, has steadily increased its share in the company’s earnings as global prices strengthened.

For the quarter ended September 2025, Hindustan Zinc reported a consolidated profit after tax of ₹2,649 crore, up 19 per cent sequentially. Silver alone contributed close to 40 per cent of overall profits during the quarter, translating to around ₹1,060 crore.

Revenue from silver stood at ₹1,706 crore, marking a 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase and a sharp 20 per cent rise year-on-year, driven by higher global prices and stable operations, Moneycontrol reported.

China ETF

The value of China’s only pure-play silver fund plunged by its maximum daily limit of 10 per cent on Thursday, ending a frenzied bull run that had prompted its manager to issue a rare series of warnings.

The abrupt decline in the UBS SDIC Silver Futures Fund LOF follows weeks of gains — flagged as “unsustainable” by the fund’s manager — fuelled by rising global interest in precious metals. Spot silver hit a record high of $72.70 an ounce on Wednesday and is on track for its best annual performance since 1979.

After the fund hit its upward limit of 10 per cent for three straight days this week, UBS SDIC Fund Management Co. tightened the rules on Wednesday evening, according to a Bloomberg report.

New subscriptions to Class C shares — typically the preferred vehicle for short-term investments — will be limited from December 26 to 100 yuan ($14.25), down from 500 yuan, the fund manager said in a statement on its website.