Lahore has five distinct gold markets, and the price of the metal is the same in all of them. What changes is the bill you walk out with.
Today’s rate in Lahore
As of 4:04pm PKT on 25 August 2026:
| Purity | Per tola | Per gram |
|---|---|---|
| 24K | PKR 513,920 | PKR 44,061 |
| 22K | PKR 470,751 | PKR 40,360 |
| 21K | PKR 449,680 | PKR 38,553 |
| 18K | PKR 385,440 | — |
One tola is 11.6638 grams, which is why the tola and gram figures never divide into a round number. For the live price, check today’s gold rate in Pakistan.
There is no separate Lahore rate
The daily rate is announced by the All Pakistan Sarafa Gems and Jewellers Association, and it is a national figure. Shah Alami does not run its own auction. Anarkali does not set a Punjab price.
The inputs are national too: the international spot price of gold, and the rupee-dollar rate. Nothing about the Ravi crossing changes either one.
You will still find sites publishing a “Lahore rate” a few hundred rupees off a “Karachi rate”. Some is genuine local premium on tight physical stock. Most is refresh timing.
Where Lahore’s gold trade sits
The geography is worth real money, because making charges track the postcode.
| Market | What it is | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Sarafa Bazaar, Rang Mahal | Wholesale, behind Shah Alami. Small, old, family-run shops; much of the trade is jeweller-to-jeweller | Lowest making charges |
| Old Anarkali & Sunehri Mandi | Testing and refining cluster. Home of the All Punjab Gold Test and Refine Laboratories Association | Verifying inherited pieces |
| Liberty Market | Showroom retail — air conditioning, display cases, brand names | Design and finish, at a premium |
| Ichra | Neighbourhood jewellers’ market on Latif Jewellers Market | Smaller, less intimidating |
| Saddar Bazaar, Cantt | Neighbourhood market with its own association | Long-standing family sarrafs |
Shah Alami takes its name from one of the thirteen gates of the walled city, named for the Mughal emperor Shah Alam I. The gate is long gone; the market that grew around it now holds more than twenty-five separate bazaars, Sarafa among them.
What actually changes your bill
Four things, and only one of them is the rate.
Making charges
Called kadhai locally, this is the jeweller’s labour and design charge — typically 8–15% of gold value, and above 20% on hand-worked bridal or kundan sets. On a tola of 22K at today’s rate, 8% against 15% is the difference between about PKR 37,700 and PKR 70,600.
It does not come back
Making charges are not recoverable. When you sell that bangle you are paid for gold content at that day’s rate — nobody reimburses the craftsmanship. This is the single reason gold jewellery is a poor savings vehicle and gold coins are a good one.
Purity, honestly stated
22K is 91.6% gold, 21K is 87.5%, 18K is 75%. A shop quoting 22K while selling 20K is stealing from you invisibly. Insist on a hallmark or a test certificate — the labs around Sunehri Mandi exist because this problem is old.
Wastage and polish
Some jewellers add a wastage percentage on top of making charges. Some fold it in. Get the total, in rupees, in writing.
Wedding season is a Lahore-specific tax
Demand in the city spikes hard around the winter wedding season and again through Ramzan and the Eids. That does not move the national rate, but it absolutely moves what the shop in front of you will negotiate on making charges. A jeweller with a full order book has no reason to discount.
If a wedding is eighteen months out, the worst plan is walking into Shah Alami six weeks before it with a lump sum.
Buying gold without the lump sum
At PKR 513,920 a tola, most Lahore households are not buying gold out of one month’s income. They wait and watch the rate climb away from them, or they borrow.
A gold committee solves that: the beesi structure your nani already understands, applied to gold instead of cash. You pay a fixed monthly instalment at a price locked when you start, so a rally while you save does not raise your bill.
What you receive at the end is a coin rather than jewellery, and that matters on everything above — no making charge to lose on resale, and no purity argument at the counter. Check the live rate before you pick a size.
Prices as of 25 August 2026, 4:04pm PKT, and change daily. Making charge ranges are typical market ranges, not quotes — confirm with your jeweller.
