18K rate today in Dindigul

Where does this price come from?

This is the rate set by MJDTA — the Jewellers and Diamond Traders' Association, Madras.

We do not calculate it. We read the association's published rate each morning and enter it unchanged. Shops in Dindigul price against this same rate, which is why it is the number worth showing you.

Some days we may not manage to enter it. On those days the page shows a rate calculated from the international gold price, and says clearly that it is an estimate. We never present the two as the same thing.

Why is the shop price higher than this?

The price on this page is the metal only. It is not the price of the jewellery.

A shop adds a making charge on top. That is usually 8% to 25%, depending on how detailed the piece is. Then 3% GST goes on the total. Some shops add a hallmarking fee too.

Here is today's example. One sovereign of 22 karat holds ₹1,09,280 of gold. A 12% making charge adds ₹13,114. GST adds ₹3,672. You pay about ₹1,26,066.

Making charges change from shop to shop, and you can bargain over them. The rate itself you cannot change. So asking two shops for a price on the same piece is rarely wasted effort.

Which should I buy: 22K, 24K or 18K?

24 karat is as close to pure as gold gets. It is too soft to hold a setting, so it goes into coins, bars and investment products rather than jewellery. Today it is ₹14,902 per gram.

22 karat is 91.6% gold with silver or copper making up the rest, and that alloy is what makes it hard enough to wear daily. Most Tamil Nadu jewellery is 22 karat, at ₹13,660 per gram today.

18 karat is 75% gold. It is used for diamond and stone-set pieces because the harder metal grips a stone properly. It costs less — ₹11,177 per gram — but it also carries less gold, so it returns less when you exchange or sell it.

How much is one sovereign of gold today?

One sovereign — a pavun — is 8 grams of 22 karat gold. Today that is ₹1,09,280.

In Tamil Nadu gold is talked about by the sovereign, not by the gram. When a family plans a wedding they ask how many pavun, not how many grams.

At today's rate: half a sovereign (4 grams) is ₹54,640. Two sovereigns are ₹2,18,560. Four are ₹4,37,120. Eight are ₹8,74,240.

These are the gold alone. Making charges and GST come on top — see the breakdown above.

What does 916 KDM mean?

They are two different things that got stuck together in everyday speech.

916 is purity. It means 91.6% gold, which is 22 karat.

KDM is not a purity at all. It is a soldering method. Cadmium used to be used to join the parts of a piece of jewellery, and KDM stands for that cadmium.

It is now banned. Cadmium causes cancer, and the danger fell mostly on the craftsmen breathing the fumes while soldering. Copper, zinc and silver alloys are used instead.

So if a shop says "KDM", treat it as an old habit of speech rather than a claim about quality. Ask for the BIS hallmark and the HUID number instead. That is the part that can be checked.

If you already own KDM jewellery you can still exchange or sell it. It usually fetches less than hallmarked gold, because there is no HUID to verify what it contains.

Why is the price different in each shop?

It is not. The gold rate is the same in every shop in Tamil Nadu. It is set for the whole state, not for one street.

What changes is the making charge, and what the shop gives you for your old gold. Two shops can show the same 22 karat rate and still be thousands of rupees apart on the same piece.

Dindigul is a market town long associated with lock making. As everywhere in Tamil Nadu, buying here follows the calendar more than the market: the wedding season, then Akshaya Tritiya, Diwali and Pongal. Shops are fullest in those weeks, and making charges hardest to bargain down.

So know this before you walk in. The rate on this page tells you what the metal is worth today. It cannot tell you whether one shop is charging fairly for the work, and no rate site can.

How do I know the gold is real?

Hallmarking is compulsory for gold jewellery in India. Every hallmarked piece carries three marks: the BIS symbol, the purity number — 916 for 22 karat, 750 for 18 karat — and a six character HUID code.

The HUID is the one that matters. Type it into the BIS Care app and it shows the purity the piece was actually tested at, not the purity you were told. It takes a minute, and it is the only independent check a buyer has.

• ✓The weight, shown to you on the scale
• ✓A bill with gold, making charge, wastage and GST on separate lines
• ✓The BIS hallmark, and its HUID number

Should I buy jewellery or coins?

The difference between the two is the making charge, and you do not get it back.

Making is 8% to 25% of the gold value. When you exchange or sell later, the shop pays you for the metal only. It pays nothing for the work.

Today's numbers: a sovereign of 22 karat holds ₹1,09,280 of gold. Buy it as a detailed piece at 20% making and you pay about ₹1,35,070 with GST. Bring it back and you are quoted on the gold alone.

None of that is wrong if you wanted the jewellery. But if you are saving, coins and bars carry much smaller charges. Sovereign gold bonds and gold ETFs carry none — though you cannot wear those, or hand them to your daughter.

Why does the price change every day?

Three things move it.

First, the international price. Gold trades all day around the world, and the price moves with demand, central bank buying and how nervous investors are.

Second, the rupee against the dollar. We import most of our gold. If the rupee weakens, Indian gold gets dearer even when the international price has not moved at all.

Third, local demand. Through the wedding season, and around Diwali and Akshaya Tritiya, more people buy and shop margins widen a little. And when import duty changes in the budget, it shows up in the rate within a day.

Is the Dindigul price different from Chennai?

The Dindigul rate today is identical to Chennai. That is deliberate rather than a rounding accident: we apply no local spread to Dindigul, because we have no evidence that one exists. Inventing a difference to make the page look locally researched would be the easy thing to do and would make the number worse.

Across all 14 cities we publish, the rate is the same today.

Either way this is an estimate of the prevailing market rate, not a quotation from any particular shop in Dindigul.