Buy gold like a jeweller

Since 2021, gold jewellery sold in India has to carry a BIS hallmark. Look closely at the inside of a ring or the hook of an earring and you will find three marks:

• BIS logo: the triangle mark of the Bureau of Indian Standards.
• Purity: karat and fineness together. 22K916 means 91.6% pure gold.
• HUID: a 6-character code that is unique to your piece.

You can check any HUID yourself in the free BIS CARE app with "Verify HUID". It shows the jeweller, the purity and the type of article. Every piece we sell is hallmarked, and the HUID is printed on your bill.

Pure gold is too soft to hold a shape, so it is mixed with silver and copper. The karat tells you how much gold is in the mix.

A lower karat costs less per gram but is not "fake". It is a different alloy, and the hallmark tells you exactly which one you are buying.

The price of a piece has four parts:

1. Gold value = net gold weight × today's rate for that karat.
2. Making charge for the craftsman's work. Light, detailed pieces take more handwork per gram than heavy ones.
3. Stones, moti, mala and diamonds, priced separately. Their weight is taken off before the gold is priced, so you never pay the gold rate for a stone.
4. GST of 3% on the total.

Ask any jeweller for: gross weight, stone weight, net gold weight, rate per gram, making, stone charges and GST as separate lines on the bill. Ours shows all of them.

Khushpreet trained at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). These are the four things he looks at first:

For a solitaire, ask for a grading report from GIA or IGI, and check that the report number is laser-inscribed on the stone's edge. Natural and lab-grown diamonds look the same; the report says which one you have.

Sterling silver is 92.5% pure and is hallmarked 925. Heavier traditional pieces such as juttis, payals and kade are priced by weight plus a making charge per gram, because the handwork varies so much from design to design.

Silver darkens with air. Keep it in a zip bag and wipe it with a soft cloth; we polish it for you at the shop.

• Put jewellery on after perfume and hair spray, and take it off for swimming and the gym.
• Store each piece in its own pouch so stones and chains don't scratch each other.
• Clean plain gold in warm water with a drop of mild soap and a soft brush.
• Bring kundan, polki and meena pieces to us for cleaning. Water can loosen the setting.
• Keep your bill. It has the HUID and weight you will need for exchange.