Buyers embrace lower purity as gold soars

With gold prices hitting record highs, traditional 22and 24-karat jewellery is fast slipping out of reach for many buyers.

- Dipti Sharma

The sparkle, though, hasn't dimmed—it's just shifted. Consumers are increasingly turning to options like 18and even 9-karat gold, which offer the same glam at a friendlier price.

Jewellery retailers are catching on: Titan's Tanishq, for instance, has widened its 18-karat range, particularly targeting the wedding market. Senco Gold says demand for 14-karat and 18-karat pieces is on the rise, with the industry already eyeing a 9-karat future.

Karats indicate the purity of the gold. Gold of 24 karats is the purest form (99.9%), 22 karats is typically used for jewellery and is mixed with other metals like copper or silver to make it more durable. Gold of 18 karats is also used for jewellery and contains a higher percentage of alloys.

Grammage is the weight of gold. The price of gold is calculated by its price per gram, multiplied by the percentage of its purity. The purer the gold, the higher the price.

On Wednesday, the rate for 10g of 24-karat gold stood at ₹1,26,028.89, while 22-karat gold was priced at ₹1,15,525.99. Meanwhile, 18-karat gold retailed at about ₹94,521.26 for 10g. These are prices for New Delhi, sourced via brokerage platform Angel One.

MCX Gold closed at a record high of ₹1,26,401 per 10g on Wednesday.

The shift in karat preferences appears structural as organized players increasingly thrive on lighter, lower-karat designs, according to Sandeep Abhange, a research analyst at LKP Securities Ltd.

But more importantly—is this shift here to stay or just a passing trend sparked by high gold prices and changing tastes? The shift towards lower-purity gold jewellery is not new, but it has become far more pronounced in recent years as gold prices soared.

According to Saumen Bhaumik, managing director of jew-ellery retailer CaratLane, with gold prices increasing, the earlier customer resistance to lower purity levels is easing.