Gold jewellery, without the mystery

Making charges in India are typically 8–25% of the gold value, or roughly ₹300–₹800 per gram, depending on how the piece is made. A machine-made chain sits at the bottom of that range; hand-set or temple work sits at the top, because it is hours of skilled labour.

The number matters more than most buyers realise. On a piece carrying ₹65,000 of gold, the difference between 8% and 25% is about ₹11,000 — for the same metal. Ask for it as a separate figure before you buy. If a jeweller quotes one all-in price, you cannot tell what you are paying for the gold and what you are paying for the work.

Zefire prints the making charge as its own line on every product page, beside the gold value, the stone value and the tax.

A gold ring is priced as (gold rate × net weight × purity) + stone value + making charge + GST.

Worked through for a 22K ring weighing 5 g net with no stones, at today's 24K rate of ₹16,324 per gram: 22K is 91.6% pure, so you pay for 5 g at 91.6% of the 24K rate. Add the making charge, then tax on top.

Two details decide whether the number is fair. Net weight, not gross — gross includes stones and findings, and you should not pay gold rates for a ruby. And which day's rate — gold moves daily, so a quotation without a date attached is not really a quotation.

3% on the goods and 5% on the making charge, when the two are billed separately. Gold jewellery sits under HSN 7113 at 3%; making is treated as job work, a service under SAC 998898, at 5%.

You will see both treatments in the market. Many jewellers apply a flat 3% to a single combined total; others split the lines as above. Neither is hidden from you if the invoice shows its working — so ask to see gold, making and tax as separate figures. A bill you can check is the whole point.

Zefire bills them as separate lines, which is why our invoices show two tax rows rather than one.

916 means 22 karat gold — 91.6% pure. It is a fineness mark: the proportion of pure gold in every 1,000 parts of the alloy.

The marks you will meet: 999 is 24K, 916 is 22K, 750 is 18K and 585 is 14K. The remainder is other metals, added deliberately for hardness and colour. Pure gold is too soft to hold a stone or survive daily wear, which is why almost nobody makes a ring from it.

Look for the BIS hallmark. On hallmarked Indian jewellery it carries three things: the BIS logo, the purity grade (for example 22K916), and a six-character alphanumeric HUID.

The HUID is the part you can independently verify. Enter it in the free BIS CARE app and it returns the registered purity and the jeweller who hallmarked the piece. If there is no HUID, or the app does not recognise it, that is worth a question before money changes hands.

Two checks beyond the mark: insist on an invoice stating purity and net weight, and treat a price well below the day's gold rate as a warning rather than a bargain. Metal does not sell below its own value for long.

Today's 24K gold rate in Delhi is ₹16,324 per gram — ₹1,63,240 per 10 grams. That figure excludes GST and making charges.

We publish it because a gold price is a fact, not a sales position. Ours is read directly from the published Delhi market rate twice a day, at noon and 2pm IST, and shown beside 22K and 18K on our live rates page, along with twelve other cities.

Any jeweller quoting you a price should be willing to tell you which day's rate it was calculated from.

Yes — a lab-grown diamond costs substantially less than a comparable natural stone, and resells for less again.

Physically they are the same material: the same carbon structure, the same hardness, the same fire. No jeweller can separate them by eye; it takes specialist equipment, which is why lab-grown stones are graded and certified by IGI and GIA just as natural ones are.

What differs is scarcity, and therefore price. Lab-grown production has scaled quickly and prices have fallen with it. That is excellent value if you want a larger or cleaner stone for your budget, and a poor bet if you are buying to resell or to hand on. Neither is fake. They are simply different purchases, and you should be told which one you are making.

Six things — and a seller worth buying from will answer all six before you ask.

1. BIS hallmark and HUID, and verify the HUID in the BIS CARE app.
2. An itemised price: gold value, stone value, making charge and tax shown separately, never as one number.
3. Which gold rate, and when — the rate the price was calculated from, with a date.
4. Net weight, not just gross, so you are not paying gold rates for stones.
5. Stone certification — for diamonds, an IGI or GIA report giving carat, colour and clarity.
6. Returns, exchange and buyback in writing, including exactly what you receive if you sell the piece back later.

If a seller will not itemise the price, you already have your answer.