Why is my jeweller's price higher than today's gold rate?

The short answer

The gold rate you see on this site — or in the newspaper, or on any rate website — is the price of the metal alone. It is what the bullion market says gold is worth.

It is not the price of a finished necklace. Your bill adds four more things:

• Making charges — the jeweller’s labour. Usually 8% to 25% of the metal value. Negotiable.
• 3% GST on the metal value.
• 5% GST on the making charges, when they are billed as a separate line.
• Hallmarking — a BIS fee of about ₹45 per article.

Add those up and a real bill lands roughly 15% to 30% above the headline metal rate. Most of that gap is the making charge.

A real example, rupee by rupee

Say you are buying a 10 gram 22K gold chain. We will use the benchmark rate from 10 July 2026: ₹13,132.50 per gram for 22K. The jeweller quotes a 12% making charge.

The metal was ₹1,31,325. The bill is ₹1,51,857. The extra ₹20,532 is real, legal and completely normal — it is labour, tax and a purity stamp.

Eleven thousand rupees, for the identical chain. That is what one conversation is worth. It is far more than you would ever save by chasing a “cheaper city” — the gold rate is the same across India anyway.

What to ask at the shop

• “What is your making charge, as a percentage?” Get a number, not a shrug. Some shops quote a flat rate per gram instead — that is fine, just ask which it is.
• “Is wastage on top of that, or already included?” Some jewellers add a separate wastage percentage. Others fold it into making. If you are not careful you can be charged for it twice.
• “Will you reduce the making charge?” Very often, yes — especially on plain designs, and especially if you are buying a decent weight. This is normal. It is expected. Ask.
• Check the hallmark. The BIS fee is about ₹45 per article, regardless of how heavy the piece is, and it buys you a stamped guarantee of purity. It is the cheapest line on the bill and the most valuable.

A note on the GST

GST on gold is not a single flat rate on the whole bill. It is 3% on the metal and 5% on the making charges when the making is billed separately. So a shop with a high making charge collects slightly more GST from you too — another quiet reason that number matters.

Work out your own bill

Do not do this arithmetic in your head at the counter. Put the weight, the purity and the making charge into our gold price calculator and it will show you the whole bill — metal, making, wastage, hallmarking and both rates of GST — using today’s live rate.

Walk in knowing the number. It changes the conversation.