What exactly is a tola?
If you have ever bought gold in Pakistan, India, or the Gulf, you have heard the word tola — but few buyers know exactly what it means. One tola is a traditional South Asian unit of mass equal to 11.6638 grams, which works out to 0.375 troy ounces. It originated as 180 grains (the ancient grain being a seed-weight standard), and it was formally standardized by the British in 1833 at 180 troy grains — the definition still used by every jeweler from Karachi to Dubai today.
The tola survived the metric system's global takeover because gold itself is conservative: when generations of families have priced bridal sets in tolas, no government decree easily changes the habit. In Pakistan and much of India, retail gold is still quoted per tola, jewelry is weighed in tolas and mashas, and wedding budgets are planned in tolas. Understanding the unit is therefore not trivia — it is the key to reading any gold price quoted in South Asia.
The tola also has smaller subdivisions you will encounter at the jeweler's counter. One tola divides into 12 mashas, so a masha is about 0.9718 grams; each masha divides further into 8 rattis, making a ratti roughly 0.1215 grams. Jewelers use these units for precise weighing of small items and for calculating making charges on lightweight pieces.
- 1 tola = 11.6638 grams = 0.375 troy ounces = 180 grains
- 1 masha = 1/12 tola, about 0.9718 grams
- 1 ratti = 1/96 tola, about 0.1215 grams
- 1 kilogram = 85.735 tolas
Tola conversion tables
Conversions are where most buyers get confused, because gold's global benchmark (the troy ounce) and South Asia's retail unit (the tola) come from entirely different traditions. The bridge between them is simple arithmetic once you memorize the two anchor numbers: a troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, and a tola is 11.6638 grams. Everything else follows by division or multiplication.
To convert the international spot price into a per-tola price, divide the USD spot by 31.1035 to get the per-gram price, then multiply by 11.6638. Going the other direction, divide any tola price by 11.6638 for the per-gram equivalent. Our gold price per tola page performs this calculation live every minute, so you can skip the arithmetic — but knowing the formula lets you sanity-check any dealer's quote on the spot.
- Tola to grams: multiply tolas by 11.6638
- Grams to tola: divide grams by 11.6638
- Tola to troy ounces: multiply tolas by 0.375
- Troy ounces to tola: multiply ounces by 2.6667
- Kilograms to tola: multiply kg by 85.735
How to price one tola of gold from the live spot price
Let us walk through a complete worked example, because this is the single most useful calculation a South Asian gold buyer can learn. Assume the live spot price is $4,000 per troy ounce. First, find the per-gram price: $4,000 divided by 31.1035 gives $128.60 per gram of pure 24K gold. Next, scale up to one tola: $128.60 times 11.6638 gives $1,499.95 — call it $1,500 per tola of pure gold.
But jewelry is rarely 24K. In Pakistan and India, most gold jewelry is 22K (91.6 percent pure), so multiply by the purity factor: $1,500 times 22/24 gives $1,375 per tola of 22K gold content. Then the jeweler adds making charges — commonly 8 to 15 percent in Pakistan — plus any applicable taxes. A quoted retail price around $1,500 to $1,550 per tola of 22K jewelry at this spot level is therefore entirely reasonable; a quote far above it deserves questions.
The power of this calculation is independence. When you can convert the live USD spot price to a per-tola figure in under a minute, no dealer can mystify you with jargon. Check our live gold price page for the current spot, run the two multiplications, and walk into any shop knowing the fair metal value before a single rupee of making charges is discussed.
Pakistan vs India: why tola prices differ
A tola is a tola everywhere — 11.6638 grams does not change at the border — but the price of that tola absolutely does. Pakistan's retail market traditionally quotes 24K and 22K gold per tola with making charges negotiated separately, and prices track the international spot plus a modest local premium. Because Pakistan imports most of its gold, currency moves in the rupee feed directly into the tola price within days.
India's market is larger, more regulated, and more taxed. Hallmarking through the Bureau of Indian Standards is mandatory for gold jewelry, import duties have historically run around 10–15 percent, and a 3 percent GST applies on top — all of which push the Indian per-tola price structurally above the international benchmark. Indian buyers also encounter a wider range of making-charge structures, from fixed per-gram rates to percentage-of-value models.
The practical takeaway: never compare a Pakistani tola quote directly with an Indian one without adjusting for taxes, duties, and purity norms. Convert both back to the pure-metal value per gram using the formulas above, and the apparent gap usually resolves into explainable local costs. What remains — the dealer's true margin — is what you should negotiate.