India’s jewellery market has not shrunk in 2026. The gram has.

Between April and June 2026, Indians bought 15% less gold jewellery by weight than a year earlier, yet spent 34% more on it, according to the World Gold Council. Gold now costs about 28% more than it did last October. On top of that, the import duty has more than doubled, the Prime Minister has asked people to cut back on gold purchases, and the festive season falls later in the calendar.

Buyers have responded in a very Indian way. They have fixed their budget and let everything else move: the karat, the weight, the metal, the stone, where they buy and how they pay. That single change sits behind most of what we are seeing:

1. The family locker is now the jeweller’s biggest competitor and biggest source of demand. Households are holding, borrowing against, and exchanging their gold rather than selling it.
2. Policy has become part of the creative brief. Old “stock up on gold” messaging now clashes with a national appeal to buy less.
3. The festive calendar moved, so the numbers moved too. Diwali falls 19 days later than in 2025, so September looked weak, and October to November will carry the season.
4. Design-led, omnichannel brands are growing fastest. CaratLane grew 32% in July to September 2026.
5. Silver is being bought as fine jewellery, and it is getting gold-style rules to match.
6. The diamond market is splitting in two. Lab-grown stones keep getting cheaper and more common, while natural diamonds move up-market.
7. Discovery is splitting into 10-minute and 10-question journeys: coins delivered by quick commerce at one end, long conversations with AI search at the other.
8. How a buyer pays, and whether the price is protected, is now part of the product.

For jewellery brands, the lesson is simple. Stop marketing grams. Start marketing what a fixed budget buys, what it will be worth when exchanged, and why it is safe to buy it from you.

Key Numbers at a Glance

What This Article Is Based On

Most articles about the jewellery market fall into two groups. Paid research summaries quote a market size and a growth rate for 2032. Daily gold-rate pages tell you today’s price. Neither tells a jewellery founder or marketer what has changed in the way people buy, or what to do about it this festive season.

So we pulled together everything public we could find for 2026 and read it as marketers rather than as investors:

• Demand data: the World Gold Council’s India reports for 2026, including its joint survey with Kantar of 1,963 consumers in 12 metro and Tier 1 cities, carried out between 22 May and 3 June 2026.
• Brand disclosures: Titan’s Q2 FY27 business update released on 6 October 2026, earlier quarterly updates from Titan and Kalyan Jewellers, and brand launches reported in the trade press.
• Policy: the May 2026 import duty change, the Bureau of Indian Standards’ hallmarking updates, and NPCI’s UPI limits.
• Channels and search: Unicommerce’s 2026 festive quick-commerce report, quick-commerce partnerships with jewellers, and Google’s 2026 announcements on AI shopping in India.
• What buyers say: forum and community threads about making charges, wastage, exchange deductions, lab-grown resale, and 9K gold.

This is public information, not proprietary data. Where we interpret, we say so. Where something has been reported but not confirmed, such as mandatory silver hallmarking, we flag it.

The Change Behind Every Other Change: The Budget is Fixed, the Gram is Not

For most of the past decade, the gram was the fixed point in an Indian jewellery purchase. A family decided it needed a 20-gram chain or a 10-gram pair of earrings, and the bill moved with the gold rate.

In 2026, that has flipped. The World Gold Council says Indian consumers are “placing greater emphasis on value, flexibility and investment considerations”, comparing prices, exchange offers, discounts and payment options before they buy. In practice, buyers start from a rupee figure, such as ₹25,000 for a gift or ₹2 lakh for a wedding piece, and ask what that figure will get them.

Here is what a fixed ₹50,000 buys in gold today.

How we worked this out: we took the 24K bullion rate of ₹1,50,540 per 10 grams on 2 October 2026, scaled it by the gold content of each karat and used the 27.8% one-year rise reported on 1 October 2026 for the 2025 comparison. Jewellers’ counter rates differ slightly by city. These are metal-only figures, before making charges, stones and 3% GST.

Three things stand out.

First, the same budget buys about 22% less 22K gold than it did a year ago. That is the squeeze every buyer feels at the counter.

Second, moving from 22K to 18K gives most of that weight back. A buyer who switches to 18K gets about 95% of the gold weight her budget bought in 22K last October. That is why karat has stopped being only a purity specification and has become a pricing tool. It also explains why Titan has expanded 9K gold through CaratLane and Mia, why Senco Gold has named 9K, 14K and 18K jewellery as areas of expansion for younger buyers, and why BIS hallmarking was extended to 9K gold in July 2025.

Third, the grams are a ceiling, not a quote. Kotak Institutional Equities estimated in December 2025 that gold makes up only 60% to 70% of what households pay for jewellery, with making charges and stones accounting for the rest. Buyers increasingly know this. Forum threads on making charges and “wastage” often show buyers working backwards from a bill to the metal value.

There is an honest trade-off that brands should say out loud. Each gram of 18K gold carries about 82% of the gold value of a gram of 22K. A lower-karat piece looks and wears like more jewellery for the money, but it returns less when it is exchanged or sold. Buyers who hear this at the counter trust the brand more. Buyers who discover it at exchange time rarely come back.

What this means for your brand

• Merchandise by budget, not only by category. Let buyers shop “under ₹15,000”, “₹15,000 to ₹50,000” and “₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh”, and make sure every band has a hero piece.
• Offer your best designs in more than one karat or weight, so the buyer changes the specification, not the brand.
• Show the price build-up on every product page: gold weight, karat, the rate used and its date, making charges, stones, GST, and the HUID.
• Report on buyers, pieces, and grams, not only revenue. When gold rises 28%, revenue can grow while every other number falls. Our guide on how to scale a jewellery business shows how to set up that reporting.

Shift 1: The Locker Is the New Competitor

What the data shows

Indian households own an enormous amount of gold, and in 2026 they have stopped selling it.

• Gold sold for cash fell to 19 tonnes in April to June 2026, its lowest level in eleven quarters, even though domestic prices were about 60% higher than a year earlier. The World Gold Council says holders preferred “to monetise their gold holdings rather than liquidate them”.
• They monetised it by borrowing. Gold loans from banks reached ₹5.1 lakh crore at the end of May 2026, up 105% in a year, and NBFC gold loans reached ₹3.3 lakh crore, up 70%. Gold loans are now India’s second-largest retail lending segment after housing.
• They also exchanged it. Retailers reported a 10% to 20% rise in exchange volumes in April to June 2026, with exchange making up as much as 70% of sales at some retailers.
• Investment interest is stronger than jewellery interest. The World Gold Council and Kantar survey found purchase intent was stronger for investment gold than for jewellery, and that gold’s role is broadening towards “financial security and investment”. Gold bar and coin demand rose 9% by volume in April to June 2026 while jewellery fell 15%.

What it means

For a growing number of families, gold is now a financial asset first and an ornament second. The rupees a jewellery brand is competing for are also being pulled towards coins, ETFs, digital gold, and loan collateral. And the gold sitting in the locker is both the brand’s biggest rival and its biggest opportunity, because exchange turns old gold into new jewellery without fresh cash.

What it means for your brand

• Treat the exchange conversation as acquisition, not a counter process. Publish your exchange formula with a worked example, including for gold bought elsewhere: tested karat, net weight, rate used, any deduction, and the final credit.
• Make the purity test visible. Karatmeter or XRF testing in front of the customer turns a moment of suspicion into a moment of trust.
• Do not fight the investment instinct with half-truths. Making charges are not recovered on exchange, and buyers know it. Be clear about what is recoverable and what is the price of design and craft.
• Give people a reason to wear, not just hold. Lightweight, everyday and occasion pieces justify the purchase in a way that “gold always goes up” no longer can.

Our Tanishq case study and Kalyan Jewellers case study show how much of the leaders’ business now runs through exchange.

Shift 2: Policy Is Now Part of the Creative Brief

What the data shows

Two decisions in May 2026 changed the mood around buying gold.

• The appeal. On 11 May 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to citizens to cut back on gold purchases. The industry linked the appeal to concern over rising imports and pressure on foreign exchange reserves. The All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council said it respected the appeal and asked for dialogue, noting that close to five crore people depend on the trade in some way.
• The duty. On 13 May 2026, the import duty on gold and silver rose from 6% to 15%, made up of 10% basic customs duty and a 5% agriculture infrastructure cess. The World Gold Council called it the steepest increase on record and estimated it could cut India’s 2026 jewellery and bar and coin demand by 50 to 60 tonnes, about 10%. Shares of listed jewellers fell by roughly 2% to 17% after the announcement.

The World Gold Council also pointed to a pattern from 2013 and 2022: higher duties have tended to bring back unofficial, smuggled gold. That narrows the price advantage organised jewellers built when duty was low.

What it means

A message that would have been ordinary in 2024, such as “Buy more gold this Dhanteras”, now reads differently to many buyers. At the same time, if grey-market gold undercuts on price, organised brands cannot win on price alone. They have to win on proof: hallmarks, HUIDs, clear bills and policies a buyer can check.

Some brands have already adjusted. Jos Alukkas ran an #ExchangeForTheNation campaign across more than 60 stores from 27 May 2026, framing gold exchange and recycling as a national contribution. Kalyan Jewellers promoted 18K jewellery through its Gold4India programme in May 2026.

What it means for your brand

• Check this season’s creative for “stock up” and “gold as investment” lines. Replace them with exchange, wearability, and gifting.
• Lead with what you can prove. HUID, BIS hallmark, tested purity, and an itemised bill are now competitive weapons against cheaper, unverifiable gold.
• Avoid copy that promises future returns on jewellery. It is weak marketing in this climate, and it invites questions you do not want to answer at exchange time.
• Plan for change. Duty levels have moved several times in the past four years, so build campaigns that still work if the rate changes again.

Shift 3: The Festive Calendar Moved, and So Did the Numbers

What the data shows

In 2025, Sharad Navratri began on 22 September, and Diwali fell on 20 October. In 2026, Navratri begins on 11 October, Dhanteras falls on Friday 6 November, and Diwali on Sunday 8 November.

That shift is already showing up in results. In its Q2 FY27 business update on 6 October 2026, Titan reported 21% growth in its jewellery business for July to September and said demand “began shifting towards the end of the quarter as the festive calendar moved towards Q3 FY27”. Titan’s shares fell more than 4% as the growth came in below some analysts’ estimates.

A year ago, Kalyan Jewellers credited Navratri sales, which were not in its base quarter, for helping its July to September 2025 growth. This year, that boost moves into October to December.

What it means

Any comparison of September 2026 with September 2025, whether sales, website traffic, ad conversions or footfall, will look worse than the underlying business. October and November 2026 will look better. Neither tells you much on its own.

What it means for your brand

• Compare festival to festival, not month to month. Line up the 30 days before Dhanteras this year against the 30 days before Dhanteras last year.
• Do not cut budgets because September looked soft. The demand has moved later in the year, not disappeared.
• Warn your ad platforms and your team. If you use Smart Bidding on Google Ads, its seasonality adjustments are designed for short spikes of a few days, such as Dhanteras, not for whole seasons.
• Expect the wedding season to overlap with the festive tail. With Diwali in the second week of November, the gap between festive and wedding buying is shorter this year.

Shift 4: Design-Led, Omnichannel Brands Are Growing Fastest

What the data shows

• In July to September 2026, Titan’s jewellery business grew 21%. Within it, Tanishq, Mia, Zoya and beYon together grew 20%, while CaratLane grew 32%. CaratLane also outgrew the group in April to June.
• Titan added 42 net jewellery stores in the quarter, taking its jewellery network to 1,269 stores.
• The World Gold Council reported that jewellery inventories stayed at about 21 tonnes in April to June 2026, well above the 13-year average of 15 tonnes, because of store expansion and related stocking.
• Lightweight and lower-karat lines are now standard at the large chains. Titan has expanded 9K gold through CaratLane and Mia and introduced lower-karat jewellery at Tanishq, and Senco Gold has named 9K, 14K and 18K as growth areas.

What it means

The fastest growth is going to brands that combine three things: designs made for today’s gold price, a digital front door, and a physical place to close the sale. Expensive gold has not stopped people from buying jewellery. It has made them more selective about who they buy from, and design and trust are doing the selecting.

What it means for your brand

• Design for weight on purpose. Open settings, hollow construction and studded work let a piece look substantial without heavy gold.
• Test demand before you cast. 3D renders and CAD files let you test interest in a lighter line before you tie up gold in stock. Our comparison of 3D jewellery renders and photography explains when each makes sense.
• Close the loop between online and offline. Most high-value jewellery is researched online and bought in person, so track store visits, appointments and WhatsApp enquiries as conversions, not only website checkouts. Our guide to selling jewellery online in India covers the foundations.

Shift 5: Silver Is Bought Like Fine Jewellery and Regulated Like It

What the data shows

• “One thing we keep hearing is that silver is the Gen Z gold,” GIVA founder Ishendra Agarwal told Outlook Business in March 2026. Silver made up about 65% of GIVA’s revenue, and he described Gen Z customers bringing their mothers into stores and persuading them to buy silver.
• Silver is not immune to price pressure. It rose about 57% in the year to 2 October 2026, faster than gold, and the Silver Institute has forecast lower Indian silver jewellery demand in 2026 as high prices weigh on discretionary buying, even as silver investment grows.
• Trust is the weak point. A LocalCircles survey released in April 2026 found that 31% of households that had bought silver said they had been cheated, and 93% supported mandatory hallmarking.
• Regulation is catching up. Since 1 September 2025, every hallmarked silver article must carry a six-digit HUID that buyers can check in the BIS CARE app. More than 77 lakh silver pieces have been hallmarked with HUID since then. Reports in September 2026 said silver hallmarking could become mandatory from October 2026, while the BIS has said it will be introduced gradually. Check the official notification before you put “mandatory” in any ad copy.

What it means

Silver is moving from a gift item to the fine jewellery category, and with that comes fine jewellery scrutiny. Brands that treat silver like fashion jewellery, with vague purity claims and no buyback, will feel the gap as rules tighten.

What it means for your brand

• Show the hallmark, purity grade, and HUID on silver product pages and in ads, the same way you would for gold.
• Be specific about plating, care, and warranty. Tarnish and plating wear are the most common silver complaints.
• Price for volatility. Silver moves faster than gold, so avoid fixed prices in long-running ads and update feeds often.

Shift 6: The Diamond Market Is Splitting in Two

What the data shows

• Lab-grown is getting much cheaper. India’s average export price for lab-grown diamonds fell from $388.77 per carat in 2022 to $71.13 per carat in January to May 2026, a fall of about 82%. In the same five months, India exported more lab-grown diamonds by carat weight (7.05 million carats) than natural ones (6.70 million carats).
• Lab-grown is going mainstream in retail. BlueStone invested ₹25 crore in lab-grown brand Ethera in February 2026, and Titan has launched its own lab-grown brand, beYon.
• Natural diamonds are moving up-market. Tanishq Natural Diamonds showed a couture collection with designer Rahul Mishra at Paris Couture Week in July 2026, positioning natural stones as rare and emotional rather than everyday.
• The rules are clearer. Under BIS standard IS 19469:2025, the word “diamond” on its own means a natural diamond. Lab-grown stones should be described in full as “laboratory-grown diamond” or “laboratory-created diamond”.

What it means

Lab-grown diamonds are becoming the affordable way to get a large, design-heavy piece when gold is expensive. But the same price fall that makes them affordable makes them a poor store of value, and buyers on forums ask about resale more than almost anything else.

What it means for your brand

• Never call lab-grown jewellery an investment. Sell it on design, size, sparkle and price, and state your buyback or exchange terms plainly, including when there are none.
• Use the full term “laboratory-grown diamond” on product pages, ads, invoices and packaging, and show the certificate.
• If you sell natural diamonds, sell rarity and meaning, not carat-per-rupee. That is a comparison natural stones now lose.

Shift 7: Discovery Is Splitting Into 10-Minute and 10-Question Journeys

What the data shows

The 10-minute journey. Gold and silver coins have become impulse buys on quick commerce. Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart and BigBasket have partnered with jewellers such as Tanishq, Malabar Gold and Diamonds and Kalyan Jewellers to deliver coins on festival days. At Akshaya Tritiya 2026, Instamart partnered with Kalyan Jewellers on a gold rate protection offer. Unicommerce reported that quick-commerce orders grew 51.1% at the start of the 2026 festive season, against 25.8% for D2C brand websites, and that fashion and accessories orders on quick commerce more than doubled over the year. Tier 2 cities grew more than twice as fast as Tier 1.

The 10-question journey. At the other end, buyers are having long conversations with search. In April 2026, Google rolled out what it called its biggest upgrade to shopping in AI Mode in India, with organised answers showing prices, reviews and stock, and added shopping to the Gemini app in English and Hindi. Google says India has its largest user base for both voice and visual search, and Circle to Search can now identify several items in one image. In September 2026, Tanishq became the first jewellery brand to advertise on ChatGPT Ads in India, according to Indian Jeweller.

What it means

A buyer might ask an AI assistant something like “lightweight 18K gold earrings for office wear under ₹30,000 that I can exchange later”. The answer will draw on pages that state weight, karat, price, and exchange terms clearly. Brands that keep those facts vague are much less likely to be cited, however good their Instagram looks.

What it means for your brand

• Write product pages that answer the whole question: weight, karat, dimensions, the price build-up, exchange and return terms, care and delivery time, as visible text rather than inside images.
• Keep your product feed current. Google Merchant Center prices should move with the gold rate, and stock should be accurate, because AI shopping answers and Shopping ads both draw on that data.
• Treat images as search assets. Clear photos taken from several angles, with descriptive file names and alt text, help visual and multimodal search. Our guide to Search Console’s multimodal report explains what Google now measures.
• Decide your quick-commerce role. If coins and small gifts matter to your festive sales, either list on quick commerce or offer same-day delivery in your strongest PIN codes.
• Build for AI answers the same way you build for search. Google says its AI features need no special markup and draw on helpful, accurate pages from its index. Our GEO guide for jewellery brands goes deeper, and our comparison of Google Shopping and Meta ads covers the paid side.

Shift 8: Paying Is Part of the Product

What the data shows

• The World Gold Council and Kantar survey found that “exchange offers, savings schemes and EMIs are supporting demand”, and that buyers compare payment options alongside price.
• Since 15 September 2025, UPI allows jewellery payments of up to ₹2 lakh per transaction and ₹6 lakh per day, up from ₹1 lakh.
• Two older rules still shape big-ticket purchases. A buyer must give a PAN for jewellery purchases above ₹2 lakh, and a jeweller cannot accept cash of ₹2 lakh or more for a single transaction under Section 269ST of the Income Tax Act.
• Price protection has become a promotion in its own right. Gold rate protection offers, such as Instamart and Kalyan Jewellers’ at Akshaya Tritiya 2026, remove the fear of buying the day before prices fall.

What it means

When the price of the main raw material can move thousands of rupees in a week, how and when a buyer pays matters as much as the price on the tag. A clear payment path can be the difference between a buyer committing today and “coming back after Diwali”.

What it means for your brand

• Show the payment path for big tickets. For a ₹3 lakh piece, explain upfront how to pay: UPI up to ₹2 lakh, plus card, net banking, EMI, or exchange credit.
• Make rate-lock and booking terms easy to find if you offer them: how long the rate holds, the deposit, and what happens if prices fall.
• If you run a gold savings scheme, put every rule on one page: instalments, missed payments, redemption and where a member can check their balance. Schemes are a common source of complaints when the rules are hard to find.

What We Are Not Seeing

Market commentary in a high-price year tends to swing towards drama. Here is what the evidence does not support.

We are not seeing the end of gold jewellery. India was the world’s largest gold jewellery market in April to June 2026, with 27% of global demand, and its decline was smaller than in other regions. The World Gold Council expects wedding and festive buying to support demand for the rest of the year and estimated total 2026 Indian gold demand at 650 to 750 tonnes.

We are not seeing the end of the store. Titan alone added 42 net jewellery stores in July to September 2026, and industry inventories are elevated because of store expansion. As GIVA’s founder told Outlook Business, digital drives discovery, but shopping in India is also an experience.

We are not seeing evidence that discounts alone win. This is our interpretation rather than a measured result. Buyers are comparing exchange offers, payment options, and price breakdowns together. A brand that cuts making charges but hides its exchange deductions has not given buyers what they are comparing.

We are not seeing a safe “investment” case for lab-grown diamonds. An 82% fall in export prices in four years is good news for affordability and bad news for resale.

Your 90-Day Plan: From Navratri to the Wedding Season

A 12-Point Check: Are You Marketing to the 2025 Buyer or the 2026 Buyer?

Answer yes or no. Every “no” is a gap a competitor can use this season.

1. Can a buyer shop by budget band on your website and in your catalogue?
2. Do your best sellers exist in at least two karats or weights?
3. Does every product page show weight, karat, HUID, the rate used, and the price build-up?
4. Is your exchange formula published with a worked example, including for jewellery bought elsewhere?
5. Have you removed “gold as investment” and “stock up” lines from this season’s ads?
6. Are lab-grown stones always described as “laboratory-grown diamond”?
7. If you sell silver, do listings show the hallmark, purity grade, and HUID?
8. Are you comparing this festive season with last year’s festive season, rather than September with September?
9. Do your Merchant Center prices update with the gold rate, with accurate stock?
10. Is your Google Business Profile up to date with festive hours, offers, and recent photos?
11. Do product pages explain how to pay for tickets above ₹2 lakh?
12. Do you track buyers, pieces and grams, as well as revenue?

If you answered “no” to four or more, the fixes are likely to do more for your festive season than a bigger ad budget.

How Kyros Solution Helps Jewellery Brands Adapt

Kyros Solution is a digital marketing agency headquartered in Surat, with a presence in Mumbai and Bangalore. We work only with jewellery and lifestyle brands, which is why a market shift like this one changes our work quickly: the gold rate shows up in our clients’ product feeds, ad copy, and conversion rates within days.

Because one team handles search, ads, social, websites, and branding for jewellery brands only, we see each shift from several sides at once. A move from 22K to 18K, for example, is a feed update, a new ad angle, a product page rewrite, and a script for store staff, and it only works if all four say the same thing.

How we usually start

1. A market-shift review. We run your website, product feed, ads, and Google Business Profile through the 12-point check above, using your own sales data where you can share it.
2. A short list. We pick the two or three gaps likely to cost you the most this season, each with a fix, an owner, and a number to track.
3. The work. We take on the fixes we are best placed to deliver and tell you which ones your own team or another specialist should own.

Where each shift meets our services

When we are not the right fit. If your hallmarking, pricing disclosure, or delivery promises are not in order yet, fix those first, because marketing will only expose them faster. And if you want guaranteed rankings or AI citations by Diwali, no honest agency can promise that. You can use the 12-point check above for free, with or without us.

You can see examples of our work in our portfolio.

Want to know how these shifts affect your brand before Dhanteras? Talk to Kyros Solution. We will go through the 12-point check with you and point out the three changes most likely to matter this season.

FAQs

Is the Indian jewellery market growing or shrinking in 2026?
It is growing in value and shrinking in volume. The World Gold Council reported that gold jewellery demand fell 15% by weight in April to June 2026 but rose 34% in value to ₹1,13,210 crore, because gold prices were about 59% higher than a year earlier.

Why are Indians buying less gold jewellery but spending more?
Higher gold prices mean each gram costs more, so buyers spend more while taking home less gold. Many are also choosing lighter pieces, lower karats such as 18K, 14K and 9K, studded designs and exchange-led purchases to keep within a fixed budget.

How much gold does ₹50,000 buy in October 2026?
At the 2 October 2026 bullion rate, ₹50,000 covers about 3.6 grams of 22K gold, 4.4 grams of 18K, 5.7 grams of 14K or 8.9 grams of 9K, in metal value only. A year ago, it covered about 4.6 grams of 22K. Making charges, stones, and 3% GST are extra.

Is 9 carat gold real gold, and is it hallmarked in India?
Yes. 9K gold contains 37.5% pure gold, and BIS hallmarking was extended to 9K gold jewellery in July 2025, so 9K pieces can carry a BIS hallmark and HUID. It is more affordable and durable for everyday wear, but returns less gold value on exchange than 18K or 22K.

Is silver jewellery hallmarking mandatory in India?
We could not find an official notification making it mandatory as of 7 October 2026, so treat it as voluntary until the BIS says otherwise. Since 1 September 2025, any silver article that is hallmarked must carry a HUID. Reports in September 2026 said mandatory hallmarking could start from October 2026, and the BIS has said it will be phased in gradually. Check the BIS website for the latest notification.

Are lab-grown diamonds worth buying in 2026?
They are worth buying for design, size, and price, not as an investment. India’s average export price for lab-grown diamonds fell about 82% between 2022 and early 2026, so resale value is low and uncertain. Always look for the full description “laboratory-grown diamond” and a certificate.

How did the 15% gold import duty affect jewellery?
The duty rose from 6% to 15% on 13 May 2026, which pushed up domestic gold prices immediately. The World Gold Council estimated it could reduce India’s 2026 jewellery and bar and coin demand by 50 to 60 tonnes, about 10%, and noted that higher duties have historically encouraged smuggled gold.

When is Dhanteras 2026, and why does the date matter for jewellers?
Dhanteras falls on Friday 6 November 2026 and Diwali on Sunday 8 November. Last year Diwali fell on 20 October, so festive buying moved from July to September, into October to December. Titan said demand began shifting towards the end of its July to September quarter for this reason.

What is the UPI limit for buying jewellery?
Since 15 September 2025, UPI allows up to ₹2 lakh per transaction and ₹6 lakh per day for jewellery purchases at eligible merchants. A PAN is required for jewellery purchases above ₹2 lakh, and cash of ₹2 lakh or more cannot be accepted for a single transaction.

How should jewellery brands market when gold prices are high?
Market what a budget buys rather than how many grams it buys. Offer designs in more than one karat or weight, publish price breakdowns and exchange formulas, lead with hallmarks and HUIDs, avoid “gold as investment” claims, and compare festive results festival to festival rather than month to month.

Will AI search change how people find jewellery brands in India?
It already is. Google has expanded AI Mode shopping and Gemini shopping in India, in English and Hindi, and says India has its largest user base for voice and visual search. Brands with clear, accurate product facts, current prices, and good images are the ones AI answers can draw on.