Wastage belongs on the net gold weight, the metal alone. Charged on the gross, stones and all, the same percentage bills gold wastage on stone.
A wastage line pays for metal that never reaches the finished piece: the burada swept off the bench, the cut-offs from shaping, the loss in melting and drawing. A stone is set, not melted, so it has no share in that loss. Those stones are already on the bill as stones; on the gross basis they are on it a second time, priced at the gold rate and then multiplied by the wastage percentage.
The percentage is what gets argued across the counter, though the total turns on the basis, which sits with the rest of what a percentage sits on and where a rate comes from. Two quotes can carry the same number and be thousands of rupees apart.
One piece runs through this page: a kundan set weighing 60 g on the scale, of which 42 g is gold. Where rupees appear they are worked at a 24K rate of ₹10,000 a gram, a round number picked so the arithmetic can be followed by hand, since no page here prints a live rate and the calculator will not guess one for you.
Gross weight, net weight and stone weight — which is which on a quote?
Separate the three weights on paper before you look at the wastage figure, because only one of them is gold. Some bills call that figure VA, for value addition; it is the same charge under a South-Indian name.
| Weight | What the figure covers | What the bill may charge on it |
|---|---|---|
| Gross weight | The piece as the scale reads it: gold, stones, the lac core that kundan and jadau work is built around, thread, clasps | No charge at all, on a bill that prices the stones separately |
| Net gold weight | The metal alone, once everything that is not gold has been taken out | The metal value at the day’s rate, the wastage percentage, and per-gram making |
| Stone weight | What is left when the net is subtracted from the gross; some quotes give a rupee value instead and no weight at all | The stone line, priced as stones |
Most quotes carry one weight, and if yours shows a single figure while the piece has stones, that figure is the gross, which means the number the whole bill turns on is not on the paper at all.
An estimate is enough to decide whether a quote is worth questioning. It will not settle a bill, and on a kundan or jadau piece it does not run at all: the flat stones and the lac under them sit outside any faceted-shape table. There the only honest number comes from the workshop. Ask what net gold weight the shop was billed at, and have that figure written on your quote. A stone weight quoted in carats converts at 0.2 g to the carat.
Wastage kis weight pe lagta hai — net ya gross?
Rupees can wait. Multiply the percentage by the weight it is charged on, and you have the gold being billed as wastage — a check that needs no rate at all, which is why it is the fastest one you can run at a counter.
Twenty per cent of the 42 g of gold is 8.4 g. The same twenty per cent of the 60 g gross is 12 g. The words on the quote did not change. The gold you are paying for went up by 3.6 g.
Grams also settle a comparison the percentages hide. Sixteen per cent on the net gold weight of this set is 6.72 g. Twelve per cent on the gross is 7.2 g, so the lower percentage is the costlier quote.
The same kundan set billed both ways — what is the gap in rupees?
The set is 916 gold, which is 22K. The mark is the fineness itself, 916 parts of gold in a thousand, so the metal prices at 0.916 of the 24K figure you type: ₹9,160 a gram here, and the same factor the calculator applies when you pick 22K.
| The line | Wastage on net gold weight | Wastage on gross weight |
|---|---|---|
| Weight the percentage sits on | 42 g | 60 g |
| Gold charged as wastage | 8.4 g | 12 g |
| Wastage in rupees, at ₹9,160 a gram | ₹76,944 | ₹1,09,920 |
| The same wastage read against the metal value | 20.0% | 28.6% |
The gap is ₹32,976. Every rupee of it is gold wastage charged on the 18 g of this piece that is not gold. The stones sit on their own line as well, so that material is paid for twice in one bill. Tax follows the gap: on a bill that splits the two GST rates, wastage is taxed with the making at 5% while the metal carries 3%, and the calculator totals the piece both ways.
Can I add a percentage quote and a rupees-per-gram quote together?
No. A percentage is a share of the metal value, so it moves with the bhav; a rupees-per-gram figure is a fixed amount that holds whatever the rate does. What to enter when one quote carries both is answered on the Gold Making-Charges Calculator.
What gets missed is that the per-gram figure carries a basis of its own. ₹120 a gram of which weight? On this set, ₹120 against the net gold is ₹5,040. The same ₹120 against the gross is ₹7,200. One quote, one figure, and ₹2,160 between the two readings of it.
Both gold calculators price a per-gram making charge on the gold weight. The wastage calculator has a field for each weight and uses the net one. The making-charges calculator has a single weight field, and it prices the metal off that field too, so the gold weight is what belongs there. A quote given per gram of gross therefore has to be converted before you type it: multiply it by the gross divided by the net. Here that turns ₹120 a gram on the gross into ₹171.43 a gram on the net, and the two describe the same money.
How do I put two quotes written differently on one scale?
One number does it, and both gold calculators print it under the bill: effective making, the wastage and the making charge added together and read as a percentage of the metal value. Why that is the fair comparison between a VA quote and a making quote is answered on the calculator itself. What no slip tells you is that the basis decides the ranking.
Two shops price the same set. The first quotes twelve per cent wastage on the gross weight and no making charge. The second quotes sixteen per cent on the net gold weight plus ₹120 a gram. The first sounds cheaper by four whole points.
Worked out, the first shop charges 7.2 g of gold as wastage: ₹65,952, an effective making of 17.1%. The second charges 6.72 g plus ₹5,040 of making: ₹66,595, an effective making of 17.3%. Two quotes that sounded four points apart sit ₹643 apart.
That number has a limit worth knowing before you lean on it. Effective making measures labour against metal and nothing else. Stone value and the hallmarking charge sit outside it, so a shop that prices its stones high ranks better on it than it deserves. Rank the labour on the effective making, then read the stone line on its own.
What should I write on a quote I am the one issuing?
Six things, and the quote stops coming back to you with questions attached.
- Gross weight in grams, as the scale reads it.
- Net gold weight in grams.
- Stone weight in grams or stone value in rupees, and plainly which of the two.
- The wastage or VA percentage, and the weight it sits on, in the same line.
- The making charge, its basis, and the weight that basis is applied to.
- Hallmarking if you charge it, and which GST convention the total is built on.
Five of the six fit on one line of a slip: 60.00 g gross · 42.00 g net gold · 20% wastage on net gold weight · ₹120 a gram making on net gold weight · stones billed separately.
There is self-interest in writing it out. A customer who can see the basis stops pushing on the percentage, because the percentage was never what worried them. And a bill that carries only a gross figure tells nobody, years later, how much gold was in the piece.
What is the one line to ask for before I accept a total?
Ask for the weight and the basis in one breath, before any talk of the percentage: what is the net gold weight, and which weight is the wastage charged on. A percentage means nothing until the weight underneath it has been named, so it is a fair question at any counter and a quick one to answer.
If the answer is the gross weight, you now know what you are being asked to pay for, and you can say so in grams. If it is the net weight, the quote is written as it should be, and the argument moves to the percentage, which is the one worth having.
Do the arithmetic before you sign. Put the gross, the net and the percentage into the wastage calculator, run it once on each basis, and take the printed check sheet to the counter with both totals on it. If the shop’s figure agrees with yours, you have lost five minutes. If it does not, the gap now has a weight attached to it.