Gold purity in India: 999, 916, 750 and the BIS hallmark

Every piece of hallmarked gold sold in India carries a three-digit number: 916, 750, 585. That number is the fineness: parts of gold per thousand. 916 means 91.6% gold, which is 22 carat. That is the whole system, and once you can read it, most of what a jeweller tells you becomes checkable.

Caratage and fineness are the same thing, counted differently

Carat measures purity in twenty-fourths. 24 parts out of 24 is pure gold, 22 parts out of 24 is 22 carat. Fineness expresses the same proportion out of a thousand. Indian hallmarks print both, which is why you see 22K916 rather than one or the other.

Those six are exactly the grades BIS permits for hallmarking: 14K(585), 18K(750), 20K(833), 22K(916), 23K(958) and 24KS(995). A piece offering you any other purity cannot be hallmarked at that purity.

The 999 that is not on the list

The daily rate you see quoted, including on this site, is for 999 fineness. But the top hallmarking grade is 24KS at 995. The two coexist because they describe different things: 999 is the bullion benchmark that bars and coins are priced against, while 995 is the highest grade at which an article is hallmarked. A jeweller quoting “24 carat” jewellery is not quoting 999 metal.

Why Indian jewellery is 22K and not purer

Pure gold is soft enough to mark with a fingernail and bend by hand. It will not hold a clasp, keep a setting tight, or survive being worn daily. The 8.4% of copper, silver and zinc in 22K is what makes a chain a chain rather than a piece of foil.

This is why 24 carat jewellery essentially does not exist in India. What is sold as 24K is coins, bars and biscuits. If someone offers you a 24 carat necklace, that is the point at which to ask questions.

18K goes further in the same direction. At 75% gold it is hard enough to hold a diamond securely in a prong setting, which is why nearly all stone-set jewellery in India is 18K. It also takes white and rose finishes that 22K cannot.

How to read the hallmark

Since HUID was introduced, a BIS hallmark is three marks, not four:

1. The BIS logo: the triangular standard mark.
2. The purity, in caratage and fineness together: 22K916, 18K750, 14K585.
3. The HUID: a six-character alphanumeric code, unique to that single article and traceable back to the piece.

If you are looking at an older piece with four marks, including a jeweller’s identification mark and an assaying centre mark, that is the pre-HUID format. It is not fake; it is simply from before the change.

Verifying it yourself

The HUID is checkable. The BIS Care app has a Verify HUID feature: enter the six characters and it returns the item registered against that code. If the app returns nothing, or returns an item that does not match what is in your hand, that is worth raising before you pay.

And if you doubt the marked purity itself, you are entitled to have it tested. BIS allows a consumer to submit a hallmarked article for fire assay at a recognised Assaying and Hallmarking centre for ₹200. Fire assay consumes a small sample, but it is the definitive test rather than the surface reading a shop’s machine gives.

Hallmarking is still not everywhere

Mandatory hallmarking began in 2021 and has expanded district by district in phases ever since. It still does not cover all of India. Before concluding that an unhallmarked piece was sold to you improperly, check whether the district it was sold in has been notified. BIS publishes the current list, and it grows several times a year.

What purity does to the price

Purity scales the metal value directly. Lower purity means proportionally less gold and a lower rate per gram.

At today’s benchmark that is ₹15,348.60 a gram for 24K, ₹14,059.30 for 22K and ₹11,511.50 for 18K.

What purity does not tell you is what you will pay. Making charges, hallmarking and GST sit on top of the metal value, and they often differ more between two shops than the metal does. The jewellery price calculator itemises the whole bill; the gold calculator gives you the metal value alone.

Purity also decides what you can borrow against a piece, because lenders value everything at its 22 carat equivalent. See the gold loan guide.

What this matters for at resale

When you sell or exchange, you are paid on the gold content and nothing else. An 18K piece returns roughly 75% of the pure-gold rate per gram, a 22K piece roughly 91.6%. The making charges you paid originally do not come back. This is the single most common surprise at the counter, and it follows directly from the number stamped on the piece. See selling or exchanging old gold for how a valuation is actually built up.