Gold Price in India Today

What goes into a jeweler’s bill in India

The rate above is the international gold price in rupees; an Indian showroom adds customs duty, 3% GST and a making charge on top. Since the July 2024 Union Budget, imported gold carries 6% in duty (5% basic customs duty plus a 1% agriculture infrastructure cess), and that cost is built into the board rate before a customer walks in.

Benchmark rates published by the India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA) and the futures prices on MCX in Mumbai are quoted before GST. Jewelers then charge GST on the full invoice value, metal and labor together.

Worked example: a 10-gram 22K chain

1. Start from an example 24K board rate of ₹10,000 per gram (an illustration only, not today’s rate).
2. Convert to 22K: ₹10,000 × 0.916 = ₹9,160 per gram.
3. Metal value for 10 grams: ₹91,600.
4. Add an example making charge of 12%: ₹10,992, taking the subtotal to ₹102,592.
5. Add 3% GST: ₹3,077.76, for a final bill of about ₹105,670.

Making charges are where showrooms differ most. Machine-made chains sit at the low end; temple jewelry, kundan work and antique finishes can run far higher. In South India some jewelers bill labor as wastage or value addition, a percentage of gold weight rather than rupees, which makes comparison harder. Convert it to rupees before deciding.

Why city rates differ slightly

Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi all start from the same imported metal, yet their published rates rarely match to the rupee. Local jewelers’ associations publish their own daily rates, transport and insurance from the import points add small costs, and competition varies. The gap is normally a fraction of a percent, far smaller than the gap between two showrooms’ making charges in the same city.

Why 24K jewelry is rare in India

Pure gold is too soft to hold stones or survive daily wear, so Indian jewelry is almost all 22K or 18K. The 24K rate matters mainly for coins and bars stamped 995 or 999. Jewelers and many banks sell such coins, but banks generally do not buy them back, so the practical resale route for a bank coin is a jeweler or refiner at their buying rate. A coin’s premium over the 24K rate is lost on resale.

Reading the BIS hallmark and HUID

Hallmarking by the Bureau of Indian Standards became mandatory for gold jewelry on 16 June 2021, rolled out district by district. From 1 April 2023 every hallmarked piece must also carry a six-character alphanumeric HUID (Hallmark Unique Identification), which you can look up in the BIS CARE app. Articles weighing under 2 grams are exempt.

A genuine mark has three parts: the BIS triangle logo, the purity grade and the HUID. If one is missing on a new piece, ask why before paying.

Old jewelry without a hallmark

The rule binds jewelers selling, not households owning. You can still sell or exchange unhallmarked family gold, and you can have a piece tested at a BIS-recognized Assaying and Hallmarking Centre for a small fee before you negotiate. Older pieces advertised as KDM gold used cadmium solder; the label says nothing about karat.

When Indian gold demand peaks

Festival days

• Akshaya Tritiya, in April or May, is considered an auspicious day to buy gold, and many families buy at least a coin.
• Dhanteras, two days before Diwali in October or November, is the busiest single buying day for many jewelers.
• The wedding season drives the heaviest purchases, usually 22K sets bought over months.
• Regional festivals add local peaks, such as Onam in Kerala and Pongal in Tamil Nadu.

Heavy demand on these days rarely moves the world price, but showrooms know footfall is guaranteed. Offers on making charges are common, while the metal rate is whatever the market says that morning.

Regional units

North and west India quote per 10 grams, which is also how MCX prices its main gold contract. Kerala and Tamil Nadu still talk in pavan or sovereign, a unit of 8 grams, and older buyers everywhere think in tola.

For those units see the 10-gram gold rate.

The traditional unit has its own page too: the tola gold rate.

Comparing with the U.S., paper gold and tax on selling

People searching “India vs USA gold price” often find India 8–10% higher on the same day. The gap is mostly the 6% duty and 3% GST; the U.S. has no federal sales tax on gold, and many states exempt bullion. The gold price today in dollars excludes all of those layers.

Non-resident Indians bringing jewelry home face baggage rules. Under the Baggage Rules, an Indian resident who has lived abroad for more than one year may bring jewelry duty-free up to 20 g (value capped at ₹50,000) for a man and 40 g (capped at ₹1,00,000) for a woman. Check current rules with Indian customs before flying, because limits are revised.

Common mistakes with Indian gold

• Comparing a board rate that excludes GST with a quote that includes it.
• Ignoring the deduction jewelers apply when you exchange old gold.
• Assuming 22K from another country uses the same labor norms as India.

For the purity maths, the 22K gold price page shows the dollar equivalent.

To see how other currencies compare, open the gold price by country list.

Glossary of Indian showroom terms

• Board rate: the day’s per-gram price for 24K and 22K, displayed before GST and labor.
• Making charge: labor, billed per gram, as a percentage or as a flat amount.
• Wastage or VA: a South Indian way of billing labor as extra grams of gold.
• HUID: the six-character code that identifies a hallmarked piece.
• Pavan or sovereign: 8 grams, the unit used in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• KDM: an old marketing term for cadmium-soldered jewelry, not a purity grade.

Paper gold, futures and tax on selling in India

Not every Indian buyer wants a chain. Several regulated ways to hold gold track the same rupee price without making charges.

MCX contracts

The Multi Commodity Exchange lists a 1 kg gold contract quoted in rupees per 10 grams, along with smaller Gold Mini (100 g), Gold Guinea (8 g) and Gold Petal (1 g) contracts. Their prices include the effect of import duty, which is why MCX gold sits above a straight conversion of the dollar price.

ETFs and Sovereign Gold Bonds

Gold ETFs trade on the NSE and BSE like shares and hold physical bars. Sovereign Gold Bonds were issued by the Reserve Bank of India on the government’s behalf from November 2015, paying 2.5% a year on the issue price over an eight-year term. Whether a new tranche is open at any moment should be checked with the RBI.

Capital gains when you sell

Since 23 July 2024, physical gold held for more than 24 months is taxed as a long-term gain at 12.5% without indexation; gold sold sooner is taxed at your slab rate. Check current rules before a large sale, since gold taxation has been revised several times.

Selling or exchanging old jewelry step by step

1. The jeweler tests purity, usually with an XRF machine that does not damage the piece.
2. Stones, lac and hooks are removed or estimated to reach net gold weight.
3. Net weight is multiplied by that day’s buying rate for the tested karat.
4. An exchange deduction may apply; it is usually smaller if you buy new jewelry the same day.
5. Payment of ₹2 lakh or more cannot legally be received in cash, so larger sales are paid by bank transfer.