Is this gold jewellery price fair in India?
Indian jewellery bills have more moving parts than most: gold rate, making charges, wastage, hallmarking, and GST on top. The one number that decides whether you are paying a fair price is what all of that comes to as a percentage over the value of the gold in the piece — and that is what this page works out from the price you were quoted.
Is this gold jewelry worth the price?
Enter what you have been quoted. Serafa works out what the gold in the piece is actually worth, what making charge that price implies once tax is taken off, and how both compare with what shops in your market typically charge.
INR
3% GST, and the 5% exception
Gold jewellery is taxed at 3% GST when it is billed as a single composite supply, which is how most retail bills are written. Making charges invoiced as a separate line attract 5% instead. So whether your bill is itemised changes the tax on it — a detail worth checking on a large purchase, and the reason this page lets you enter your own rate if yours was billed the other way.
Making charges and wastage are not the same line
Indian jewellers commonly show two charges above the gold value: making (the labour) and wastage (gold notionally lost in manufacturing, usually a percentage of the gold weight). Both are real costs and both are negotiable, and some retailers fold them into one figure while others do not. From a buyer's point of view they add up to the same thing — the premium over the gold in the piece — which is why this page reports that single number rather than trying to guess how your bill was split.
22K is the standard, and hallmarking is now mandatory
Most Indian jewellery is 22K (916), with 18K common in stone-set and modern designs and 24K reserved for coins and bars. BIS hallmarking is mandatory for gold jewellery, and hallmarked pieces carry a HUID — a six-character alphanumeric code — alongside the purity mark. A piece without a hallmark is a piece whose purity you are taking on trust, and purity is what the gold value is calculated from.
Local jeweller against national chain
Making charges vary widely across India, and the variation is not random: national chains typically quote higher fees, which buy design, a guarantee and stated buy-back terms, while local jewellers compete more directly on the charge itself. Neither is automatically better value, and the honest answer depends on whether you will use what the higher fee is paying for. The comparison that means something is the premium over the gold value, which this page shows for each quote you enter — and which routinely ranks the cheapest ticket second, because a lighter piece at a lower karat can carry a far higher premium than a heavier one that costs more on the day.
Frequently asked questions
How much GST is charged on gold jewellery in India?
3% when the jewellery is billed as a composite supply, which covers most retail purchases. Making charges billed as a separate line attract 5%. If your bill is itemised that way, enter 5% as a custom rate on this page.
What is a fair making charge in India?
There is no single figure — it depends on the design, the retailer and how much of the work is by hand. Serafa publishes an estimated range for the Indian market, labelled as an estimate, and this page shows where your quote sits against it. The practical move is to ask for the making charge and the wastage charge as numbers and compare those across shops rather than comparing bills.
What are wastage charges and should I pay them?
Wastage is gold notionally lost during manufacturing, billed as a percentage of the gold weight. It is a standard line on Indian jewellery bills and it is negotiable, like the making charge. Whether it is itemised or folded into the making charge, it lands in the same place from your side: the premium you pay over the gold in the piece.
Is 22K or 24K better for jewellery?
For jewellery you intend to wear, 22K — 24K is too soft to hold a setting or survive daily use, which is why it is sold as coins and bars rather than as ornaments. 22K contains 91.7% gold and is priced accordingly; it is not a lesser product, it is a different alloy for a different purpose.