Two silver rings weigh the same on the scale, yet one costs twice as much as the other, and the bill for a third has lines on it nobody has ever explained to you. Silver jewellery price calculation comes down to three parts: the value of the silver inside the piece (its weight, times its purity, times the day's silver rate), the making charges for design and hand work, and 3% GST on the total.
Once you can see those three parts, a price tag stops being a mystery. This page gives you the formula, a worked example with deliberately round, made-up numbers, what making charges actually pay for, why the price per gram swings so much from piece to piece, and the red flags that tell you a "silver" price cannot be honest.
In short
- Metal value = weight in grams × purity (0.925 for sterling silver) × the day's rate for fine silver per gram.
- Making charges pay for design, a karigar's hours and finishing. They are the part of the price that pays people, not metal.
- GST on finished jewellery in India is 3% of the total value, whether or not making charges are shown separately.
- Price per gram is a good check that a piece is silver, and a poor way to compare two designs.
- If a "925 silver" piece costs less than the silver inside it, it is not 925 silver.
Silver jewellery price calculation: the formula
Every honest silver price is built from the same three blocks, in this order.
- Metal value. The weight of the silver in grams, times its purity, times the day's rate for fine silver per gram. For 925 sterling silver the purity factor is 0.925, because 92.5% of the metal is silver and 7.5% is other metals, usually copper, added for strength.
- Making charges. What the jeweller charges to turn that metal into this particular piece. They can be quoted per gram, as a percentage of the metal value, or as a fixed amount per piece.
- GST. 3% of the metal value and making charges added together.
Silver rates move every day, and they are commonly quoted per kilogram of fine (999) silver. Divide that figure by 1,000 to get a rate per gram before you start.
The purity step is the one people skip. A 925 piece is not 100% silver, so its metal value is not simply its weight times the fine silver rate. If you want to understand the difference between the two purities properly, our guide to 925 vs 999 silver explains why jewellery is made in 925 in the first place.
A worked example, with made-up numbers
The numbers below are deliberately round and invented so the maths is easy to follow. They are not today's silver rate and not the price of anything we sell. Before you do this sum for real, look up the day's rate.
Imagine a fine silver rate of ₹100 per gram and two bracelets, each weighing 10 g in 925 sterling silver. One is a plain chain. The other is intricate filigree that took a karigar far longer to make.
| Line on the bill | How it is worked out | Plain chain, 10 g | Filigree, 10 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver content | 10 g × 0.925 | 9.25 g | 9.25 g |
| Metal value | 9.25 g × ₹100 | ₹925 | ₹925 |
| Making charges | Set by design and hours | ₹500 | ₹1,500 |
| Subtotal | Metal + making | ₹1,425 | ₹2,425 |
| GST at 3% | 3% of the subtotal | ₹42.75 | ₹72.75 |
| Total | Subtotal + GST | ₹1,467.75 | ₹2,497.75 |
| Effective price per gram | Total ÷ 10 g | About ₹147 | About ₹250 |
Same weight, same silver, same tax. The only difference is the hand work, and it moves the price per gram from about ₹147 to about ₹250. That is why price per gram tells you whether a piece can be silver, but not which of two designs is better value.
Now look at the first two lines again. If a seller multiplies the full 10 g by the fine silver rate, the metal value becomes ₹1,000 instead of ₹925. That extra ₹75 is copper being billed as silver. Ask which rate has been used, and whether it was applied to the full weight or to the silver content.
What making charges actually pay for
Making charges are the part of a jewellery price that pays for turning raw silver into a finished piece: the design, the karigar's hours, the sawing, soldering, setting and polishing, and, on some bills, an allowance for silver lost as filings and dust during making.
That last item sometimes appears on a separate line, often called wastage. It is a real cost, because silver that ends up as polishing dust does not end up in your bracelet. It should still be stated clearly, so ask how it is calculated if you see it.
Making charges are also the part of the price that does not depend on the silver rate. When rates rise, the metal value rises, but a karigar's hours on a filigree pendant stay the same.
Why is silver jewellery expensive compared with the silver rate?
Because hand work does not scale with weight. Twisting fine silver wire into filigree, setting a pearl so it sits straight, or soldering hundreds of tiny links takes hours whether the finished piece weighs 1 g or 10 g. Pieces cast or stamped by machine in large runs spread that labour across thousands of units, which is a fair way to make jewellery, just a different one. Our post on handcrafted vs machine-made jewellery goes into what each approach gives you.
The rate itself also moves. When silver rises and stays risen, every honest silver price rises with it, because the metal line on the bill is real. I wrote about how that affects us in our note on silver price changes.
Why the price per gram varies so much
Small pieces carry fixed work
A clasp, a screw back, final polishing, a quality check and the pouch it travels in cost roughly the same whether the piece weighs 1 g or 20 g. Spread over 1 g, that fixed work makes the price per gram look high. Spread over 20 g, it almost disappears.
Design and technique
Filigree, fine engraving, stone setting and oxidising all add hours. Plain, polished designs add fewer. The example above shows how much that alone can change the price per gram.
Stones, pearls and other materials
If a piece has stones, pearls or beads, the weight on the tag may include them. Stones are not silver and should not be billed at the silver rate, so ask for the net silver weight before you do the sum.
Length and size
A longer chain or a larger ring simply contains more silver. Our Silver Box Chain, made of tiny box-shaped links soldered by hand, comes in six lengths, and the longer lengths have more silver in them, so their price is higher. That is the formula working, not a markup.
For a feel of what different pieces typically weigh, our silver jewellery weight guide is a useful companion to this page.
Red flags on a silver price tag
The price is lower than the silver inside it
Do the metal-value sum. If the whole price, making charges and GST included, is below the value of the silver alone, the piece is not 925 silver. A price that is cheaper than the silver inside it is not a bargain. It is a confession.
No weight anywhere
Here is what the jewellery trade gets wrong: it sells silver by the look and prices it by the vague. "Silver-toned", "silver finish" and listings with no weight at all are there to stop you doing exactly this sum. If a seller will not tell you the weight, assume the answer would not help them.
The full weight billed at the fine silver rate
As the example shows, charging a 925 piece's full weight at the 999 rate bills you for copper at silver prices. On a single ring the difference is small. On a heavy pair of payal it is not.
No proper bill
A clear bill shows weight, purity, the rate used, making charges and GST, so you can check each line. For checking the metal itself, our guide on how to tell if silver is real before you buy online covers stamps, listing details and what to ask a seller.
How I think about our own prices
I will not quote any of our prices here, because silver rates move and any number I wrote would be out of date by the time you read it. What I can tell you is how we think.
Everything we make in our Jaipur workshop, where my family has worked with silver since 1985, is solid 925 sterling silver, stamped 925. A price starts from the silver in the piece and the hours our karigars put into it. Take the Filigree Band Earclip: about 1 g of silver, made of fine silver threads woven into a lace-like pattern. There is very little metal in it and a great deal of patience. The Filigree Band Ring is the same idea on the finger, about 2 g of twisted threads soldered into an openwork band.
Look for the approximate weight in a product's description, and do the metal-value sum yourself before you pay. Please do. I would much rather you check us than trust us blindly. And if you shop to a budget, our pieces are also grouped under ₹1,000, ₹1,000 to ₹2,000 and ₹2,000 to ₹3,000.
Frequently asked questions
What are making charges on silver jewellery?
Making charges are what you pay for turning raw silver into a finished piece: design, a karigar's hours, soldering, setting, polishing and finishing. They are added on top of the metal value and can be quoted per gram, as a percentage or per piece. Intricate hand work such as filigree usually carries higher making charges than a plain design.
Is GST charged on making charges for silver jewellery?
Yes, as part of the whole price. When you buy finished silver jewellery from a jeweller in India, GST is 3% of the total transaction value, whether the making charges are shown separately on the bill or not. That is how the GST Council's own FAQ on gems and jewellery answers the question.
How do I calculate the price of 925 silver jewellery?
Multiply the weight in grams by 0.925 and by the day's fine silver rate per gram to get the metal value. Add the making charges, then add 3% GST on that total. If the piece has stones or pearls, use the net silver weight rather than the gross weight when you work out the metal value.
Why is handmade silver jewellery priced higher per gram?
Because hand work does not shrink with the weight of the piece. A karigar can spend more hours on a 1 g filigree earring than on a much heavier plain design, and those hours are paid for through making charges. That pushes the price per gram up, especially on small, intricate pieces, even though the silver rate is the same.
Silver jewellery price calculation, in one line
The whole of silver jewellery price calculation fits in one line: weight × purity × the day's rate, plus making charges, plus 3% GST. Do the first part before you pay, and a "silver" price that is too good to be true will never fool you again. GST figures here follow the GST Council's FAQ on gems and jewellery, and the 3% rate was left unchanged in the September 2025 GST revision. Real Silver. Made to be worn every day.
