Plan to sell gold jewellery at current high prices? Making charges, dip in market prices, check out these costs before you sell your gold jewellery

In Noida’s Sector 18 market, the answer is playing out in real time. Outside a nondescript ‘Cash for Gold’ outlet, Rekha Verma (name changed on request), a middle-aged homemaker from Ghaziabad, clutches a tiny velvet pouch. Inside: a pair of 16-gram, 22-karat earrings. She planned to exchange them for a trendier necklace but, after crunching the numbers, opted to sell instead. “I thought I could swap them, but after all the deductions, cash made more sense,” she laughs. “I’ll buy some jewellery but invest the rest elsewhere.”

Rekha isn’t alone. The man behind the counter, quick with his calculator, sees six to seven such customers daily. “People are rethinking gold,” he says. His outlet charges a 3-10% commission, far less than the 4-5% market price cut and 20-25% making charge loss at brand stores.

The game-changers

ICRA expects domestic gold jewellery consumption to rise 14-18% by value in 2024-25, despite weak volumes. In 2023-24, growth hit 18%, driven by high prices rather than demand. Gold remains costly but is viewed as a hedge against inflation and currency depreciation.

Reports by Redseer and PwC peg India’s jewellery market at $67 billion, set to hit $115-125 billion by 2028, propelled by rising incomes and shifting consumer trends. Traditional shoppers, especially women, now prefer lightweight pieces or digital gold over bulky bridal sets. Yet, despite the market’s growth, resale returns tell a different story.

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What happens on selling gold

The market price is different from the retail