You take a five tola set to a jeweller. The scale reads five tola. You are paid for 4.375. Nothing has been stolen and no one has cheated you — this is ratti masha kat, a deduction convention as old as the tola itself. It is the single most expensive thing most sellers do not know about, and it has nothing to do with the gold rate.
The three units the deduction is built on
The kat is quoted in traditional sub-units, not in grams, which is exactly why it slips past people. Three numbers make the whole thing readable:
| Unit | In grams | Relationship |
|---|---|---|
| 1 ratti | 0.1215 g | Historically the weight of eight average rice grains — the smallest unit still in trade use |
| 1 masha | 0.9720 g | 8 ratti |
| 1 tola | 11.6638 g | 12 masha = 96 ratti |
How the kat is calculated
The market convention is a minimum deduction of one ratti for every masha of weight. A tola holds 12 masha and 96 ratti, so that is 12 ratti deducted per tola — exactly 12.5% of the weight, before anything else comes off.
What the deduction is nominally for: solder, polish, and the base metal — usually copper — that was alloyed into the piece when it was made. The uncomfortable part is that you paid the gold rate for those materials when you bought the piece, and you do not get that money back.
| You sell | In masha | Minimum kat | Paid for | Value lost at today's rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 tola | 12 masha | 12 ratti (0.125 tola) | 0.875 tola | −Rs 58,742 |
| 2 tola | 24 masha | 24 ratti (0.250 tola) | 1.750 tola | −Rs 117,483 |
| 5 tola | 60 masha | 60 ratti (0.625 tola) | 4.375 tola | −Rs 293,708 |
| 10 tola | 120 masha | 120 ratti (1.250 tola) | 8.750 tola | −Rs 587,417 |
| 20 tola | 240 masha | 240 ratti (2.500 tola) | 17.500 tola | −Rs 1,174,833 |
Worked example. A five tola bridal set is 60 masha, so the minimum kat is 60 ratti — 0.625 tola. You are paid for 4.375 tola, not 5. At today's rate of Rs 469,933 per tola, that deduction alone costs Rs 293,708. And that is before the dealer applies the bidding rate rather than the asking rate.
The second deduction nobody mentions: bid versus ask
The kat takes weight off. The bid/ask spread then takes value off what remains. A dealer buys at the bidding price and sells at the asking price, and the gap between them is how the shop earns.
| Selling 5 tola | Amount |
|---|---|
| What the scale says it is worth (5 tola × market rate) | Rs 2,349,666 |
| Less ratti masha kat (12.5% of weight) | −Rs 293,708 |
| Less the bid/ask spread on the remaining weight | −Rs 2,054 |
| What you actually receive | Rs 2,053,904 |
| Total shortfall against the headline rate | Rs 295,762 (12.6%) |
Roughly 12.6% of the headline value, gone on a clean piece with no stones and no polish issue. That is the realistic number to plan around — not the tola rate on a rate board.
When the deduction gets worse
- Heavy polish. An extra kat of one ratti up to a full masha per piece is common on polished work.
- Stones and pearls. These are detached and their weight removed entirely. On a stone-heavy set the combined deduction can approach a further 0.5–0.6 tola on a 5 tola piece.
- Hollow pieces. Bangles and chains filled with wax or resin weigh far more than their gold content, and the whole difference comes off.
- Mixed karat in one lot. If a bundle contains 22K and 18K pieces together, expect the whole lot to be assessed at the lower grade unless you separate it yourself.
- No receipt. Without a dated invoice showing original weight and purity, you have no basis on which to challenge any of it.
How to protect yourself
- Ask for the kat in writing before you agree. Three separate lines: gross weight, deduction in ratti, net payable weight. A dealer who will not write it down is telling you something.
- Watch the weighing. Gross weight, stone weight and net gold weight should each be shown to you on the scale, not summarised afterwards.
- Separate your pieces by karat before you go in. It costs you nothing and stops a mixed lot being assessed at the lowest grade present.
- Get more than one quote. The kat is convention, not law. On clean, documented, stone-free pieces it is negotiable, and dealers competing for a large lot will move.
- Ask whether they buy back at the bidding or the asking rate. Some shops buy back their own invoiced pieces closer to the mid rate. It is worth asking before you buy, not after.
The structural fix: buy the right form in the first place
Ratti masha kat applies to finished jewellery. It does not apply to bullion. Bars and coins carry almost no making charge on the way in and no kat on the way out, which is why the same amount of money behaves completely differently depending on what shape you bought it in.
| 5 tola held as | Recovered on sale | Versus jewellery |
|---|---|---|
| Bars or coins | Rs 2,347,319 | — |
| Finished jewellery | Rs 2,053,904 | −Rs 293,415 |
On a five tola holding that is roughly Rs 293,415 — for the same weight of the same metal, decided entirely by the form you chose when you bought it. If the purpose is saving rather than wearing, that is the whole argument in one number.
Is the kat legal? Is it negotiable?
It is trade convention rather than statute. No law sets 12.5%, and no law prevents a dealer from applying more. Equally, nothing obliges you to accept a given assessment — you can walk to the next shop, and on a substantial lot you should.
What genuinely shifts the number in your favour is documentation. A dated invoice showing original weight, purity and the rate applied turns the conversation from an opinion about your piece into an arithmetic disagreement, and arithmetic disagreements are much easier to win.