Today's Gold Rate in India: How It's Set and Why It Differs by City

Every jeweller's board shows a slightly different number, and the rate in Mumbai isn't quite the rate in Chennai. None of that is random. Here's what actually sets the Indian gold rate — and how to read it before someone quotes you a price.

Gold in India is quoted per gram, in rupees

The Indian gold rate is quoted per gram in ₹, for a given purity. You'll also see the same rate expressed for 8 grams, 10 grams and 100 grams, because those are the units people actually buy in — and because 10 grams is the standard unit for bullion quotes. It's all the same underlying number, just multiplied out.

That published rate is the value of the metal itself. It is not what you pay at the counter. The counter price adds a making charge and GST on top, which we come back to below.

What actually sets the rate

India imports the large majority of the gold it consumes, so the domestic rate is essentially an imported price with taxes and local costs layered on. Four things move it:

• The international gold price — quoted in US dollars per troy ounce. This is the biggest driver, and it moves for global reasons: interest rates, inflation, central bank buying, risk sentiment.
• The rupee–dollar exchange rate — because the metal is bought in dollars. A weaker rupee pushes the Indian rate up even on a day when the dollar price hasn't moved at all. This is why Indian gold sometimes rises when international gold is flat.
• Import duty — customs duty is charged on imported gold. The rate is set by the government and has been revised more than once in recent years, sometimes sharply, so treat any fixed percentage you read online with caution and check the current notification. What matters here is the principle: duty is baked into the Indian landed price, which is why the Indian rate doesn't simply equal the international price converted into rupees.
• Local demand and dealer premium — around weddings and festivals, demand firms up and dealers' premiums widen; in quiet periods they narrow, and imported gold can even trade at a discount.

Then GST at 3% is applied when the jewellery is actually sold to you. That's a tax on the sale, not part of the published metal rate — so the rate you look up and the amount on your bill are two different numbers by design.

Why the rate differs from city to city

This is the question we get most, and the popular answer — "different state taxes" — is wrong. GST on gold is a national rate: the same 3% applies whether you buy in Kolkata or Kochi. So tax isn't the reason.

The real reasons are more mundane:

• Each city quotes its own rate. Local jewellers' and bullion associations publish a reference rate for their market. Those quotes are compiled at different moments and from different dealers, so they rarely line up to the rupee.
• Transport and logistics. Gold lands at a handful of import hubs and moves inland. Freight, insurance and handling cost a little, and that little shows up in the local number.
• Local demand and competition. A market with heavy wedding demand or fewer dealers competing can carry a slightly higher premium than one without.

The gaps are usually small next to the national rate — but on a heavy purchase they're worth knowing about, which is why the app publishes each city's own 24K and 22K rate rather than showing one number for the whole country.

What the karat numbers mean

Karat (K) measures purity — how much of the metal is pure gold, with the rest made up of harder alloys. In India you'll also see the fineness number stamped on the piece (916, 750 and so on), which is the same thing expressed in parts per thousand.

The higher the karat, the more pure gold in each gram, and so the higher the price per gram. The relationship is close to proportional — we walk through the arithmetic in 22K vs 24K vs 18K Gold in India.

How a jeweller's price is calculated

Once you know the parts, the bill stops being mysterious:

• Gold value = today's rate for that karat × the weight in grams
• + Making charge = the labour and design fee, quoted either per gram or as a percentage
• + GST at 3% on the total transaction value of the jewellery
• + Hallmarking charge — a small per-piece fee that many jewellers itemise

One point worth getting right, because a lot of websites get it wrong: when you buy finished jewellery as a consumer, GST is 3% on the total value — whether or not the making charge is itemised separately. That's the position stated in the government's own sectoral FAQ for gems and jewellery. The 5% figure you'll see quoted around the internet applies to job work — a jeweller paying a workshop to make something — not to your retail bill.

So two shops can quote very different totals for the same chain, at the same weight and purity, and neither is cheating you: their making charges differ. Knowing the published rate is what lets you separate the metal from the markup. That's covered in Gold Making Charges in India, Explained.

A published rate is a reference, not a promise

One honest caveat. The rate in this app — like the rate on any website — is a published reference rate, updated daily. It isn't a live trading feed, and your jeweller sets their own price from their own sources at their own moment. Expect a small difference, and treat the published number as the benchmark you walk in with rather than a price you're entitled to.

Related reading

• 22K vs 24K vs 18K Gold in India: Which Should You Buy?
• BIS Hallmarking and the 6-Digit HUID, Explained
• Gold Making Charges in India, Explained