India will celebrate Dhanteras—the festival of wealth — on October 25 this year. The occasion marks the start of the Hindu festival of Diwali and is considered an auspicious time to invest in gold and other precious metals. So, if you are planning to buy gold this year, keep in mind these five things in order to make most of your investment:
Know the purity level: The purity of gold is denoted in karats, with 24 karat gold being 99.9% pure and 22 karat gold being 92% pure. You should never purchase gold jewellery without checking its purity. However, keep in mind that 24 karat gold is not suited to make jewellery, which is why jewellers use either 14, 18 or 22 karat gold.
Buy hallmarked jewellery: To be safe, it is advisable to purchase hallmarked jewellery. The process of certifying the purity of gold called is called hallmarking.
Hallmarking was introduced to protect the public against adulteration and to obligate manufacturers to maintain legal standards of fineness/purity. Check for these four BIS hallmarking components to ensure the purity of gold -- BIS mark, purity in Karat and fineness, assaying and hallmarking centre's identification mark/number and jeweller’s Identification mark/number.
Know the exact gold prices: Gold pricing is determined based on the purity of gold. The price of gold changes every day based on the market rate. All jewellery stores display the daily bullion rates for consumers. You should first look at the bullion price and then discount it based on the purity of gold. For example, if the cost of 10 gm gold is Rs 38,500 at bullion rate, then price of 22K gold (91.6% purity) will be around Rs 35,260.
Making charges: Making charges are essentially the labour charges involved in creating and manufacturing jewellery pieces. Making charges vary depending on the type and design of gold jewellery and also whether it is machine-made or hand-made. Machine-made jewellery tends to be cheaper than man-made jewellery. Making charges are also levied on per gram basis and are linked to the gold rates.
Precious stones in jewellery: Most gold jewellery in India is sold by weight, means heavier pieces cost more. Precious stones like diamond and emerald are often added to gold jewellery, making them heavier in the process. But most jewellers weigh a piece in its entirety. So you might end up paying for gold which is not actually there, but when you go and resell it, only the weight of actual gold is taken after removing the studded stones. So keep this in mind while purchasing studded jewellery.
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