24 Karat Gold
Pure gold, 99.9% fine. Too soft for jewellery that gets worn, so it is bought as coins and bars.
24K is gold with nothing meaningful added. It is a deep, slightly orange yellow, and it marks and bends with very little force.
You can dent a 24K ring with a fingernail, which is why almost no wearable jewellery is made from it.
In India it is the form gold is held in for investment: coins, bars and biscuits, hallmarked 999.
When you are buying
If you want gold as a store of value, buy 24K coins and pay no making charges. If you want something to wear, buy 22K or 18K and accept that you are paying for craft as well as metal.
Karat
The purity of gold, measured in twenty-fourths. 24K is pure gold; 22K is 22 parts gold to 2 parts other metal.
22 Karat Gold
91.6% gold. The Indian standard for traditional jewellery, and what a 916 hallmark means.
Fineness
Purity expressed in parts per thousand rather than karats. 999, 916, 750 and 585 are the numbers you will see stamped.
Gold Rate
The day's price of gold per gram at a stated purity. The base every gold bill is built on.
Making Charges
What you pay for craftsmanship on top of the metal, charged either per gram or as a percentage.