Lesson 1 of 3 · 7 min
Reading a jewellery bill properly
Gold is the default Indian family asset and almost nobody is shown what the bill is actually charging for. Four separate things hide inside one number.
In most Indian families gold is not a decision anyone made. It arrives at weddings, comes down from a grandmother, gets bought a little at a time before a festival. It is the one asset older relatives are certain about and younger ones are never taught to read.
So start with the bill, because a jewellery bill is not one price. It is at least four separate charges stacked into a single figure, and only one of them is the metal.
| Line | What it pays for | Do you get it back when you sell? |
|---|---|---|
| Metal value | The weight of gold, at the rate for that purity on that day | Yes — this is the part a buyer pays you for |
| Making charges | The craft: design, labour, the shop's margin. A percentage of the metal value, or a flat rate per gram | No. Making charges are spent, not stored |
| Wastage | Metal notionally lost while the piece was made, added as extra grams or a percentage | No |
| GST | Charged on the metal and separately on the making charges | No — it is a tax you paid, not value inside the piece |
| Stones | Diamonds or coloured stones, weighed and priced apart from the gold | Rarely at anything close to what you paid |
The actual document
One necklace, four charges, and only one of them is gold
Sample Jewellers, Pune
Tax invoice · 14 October 2026
- Item
- 22K necklace
- Gross weight
- 18.400 g
- Purity
- 916 (22K), hallmarked
- Rate applied
- ₹7,150 per gram
What you are paying for
- Gold value · 18.400 g at ₹7,150₹1,31,560
- Making charges at 12%₹15,787
- Wastage at 8%₹10,525
- Hallmarking charge₹45
- Sub-total₹1,57,917
Tax
- CGST at 1.5%₹2,369
- SGST at 1.5%₹2,369
- GST at 3%₹4,738
A fictional bill. Rates and making charges vary by shop and by design; the four-part structure does not.
Tap a numbered marker to see what that line means.
- 1
Gold value · 18.400 g at ₹7,150. The only line a buyer pays you for. Everything below it is the price of the object, not the value of the metal inside it.
- 2
Making charges at 12%. The craft, the labour and the shop’s margin. Spent, not stored — and the most negotiable number on the bill, especially on a plain design or at the end of a slow month.
- 3
Wastage at 8%. Metal notionally lost while the piece was made, charged as extra grams you never received. Ask for it to be quoted separately from making charges — a shop that folds them together is quoting one number for two things.
- 4
GST at 3%. Charged on the making and the wastage as well as on the metal — so you pay tax on the parts that do not come back either.
- 5
Bill total. The metal is ₹1,31,560 of this — about 81%. Sell it back tomorrow at the same rate and roughly ₹31,000 has simply gone, before the price of gold has moved a rupee in either direction.
Purity, in the only units that matter
- 24 carat
- 999 parts per thousand
- 22 carat
- 916 parts per thousand
- 18 carat
- 750 parts per thousand
Effectively pure. Too soft for most jewellery, which is why coins and bars use it and necklaces usually do not.
22 divided by 24. The '916' stamped inside a bangle is not a serial number — it is the purity.
Three quarters gold. Common in stone-set and lighter pieces, and priced against a lower metal rate accordingly.
Now the uncomfortable part. A necklace does two jobs at once. It stores metal value, and it is a thing you wear and want and were given. Both are real.
But the second job is consumption, and consumption priced as an asset is how families end up believing they own far more than the market thinks they do. The metal is an asset. The making, the wastage, the GST and the design are the price of the object.
Quick check
You buy a ₹1,00,000 chain: metal, making charges, wastage and GST all included. You sell it back a year later at the same gold rate. Roughly what should you expect?
Check yourself
1 / 3
Kabir asks
What are making charges paying for?
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