22K Gold Rate Today in UAE – 22 Carat Gold Price in Dubai per Gram, 10 g and Tola

What 22 carat (916) gold actually is

22K means that 22 parts out of 24 are pure gold, which works out to 91.6% and explains the "916" stamp you will find inside a bangle or on the clasp of a chain. The remaining 8.4% is usually copper and silver, sometimes with a little zinc, blended to make the metal hard enough to survive daily wear while keeping the rich yellow that South Asian jewellery is known for. Pure gold is too soft for a bangle that is worn for years; 22K is the compromise that generations of jewellers in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Sindh settled on, and the Dubai trade grew up serving exactly those customers.

In the UAE you will see 22K described in three interchangeable ways: "22 carat", "22K" and "916". They mean the same thing. Our guide to gold karats compares all the purities side by side; here we stay focused on 22K because it has its own rate line on every shop board and its own buyers.

Two colour notes worth knowing before you compare pieces. 22K looks slightly paler than 21K, which has more copper and reads as a deeper, warmer yellow. And 22K cannot be made convincingly white or rose, so almost every 22K piece is yellow gold; coloured gold is an 18K story.

How the 22K gold rate is calculated from the 24K price

There is no separate market for 22K gold. The rate on the board is simply the pure (24K) gram rate multiplied by 0.916. If you know one, you know the other. The 24K rate itself comes from the international spot price in US dollars per troy ounce, divided by 31.1035 to get a gram and multiplied by the fixed dirham peg of 3.6725.

In practice the number displayed in shops (and on our gold rate today board) is published by the Dubai Gold & Jewellery Group during the day and tracks this calculation within a dirham or so. Our widget does the same arithmetic continuously, so if a jeweller's board shows a slightly different figure, the difference is timing, not a local mark-up. The page on how the Dubai gold rate is set explains who publishes it and when it changes.

22K gold price today per 10 grams and per tola

Shops in Deira, Karama, Meena Bazaar and Rolla rarely quote a single gram when a customer asks about a bangle. The working units are 10 grams, which matches how Indian buyers think about jewellery, and the tola of 11.6638 grams, which Pakistani, Bangladeshi and older Indian customers still use for coins and heavy chains. A plain pair of 22K bangles typically weighs somewhere between 15 and 30 grams; a bridal necklace set can run to 50 grams or more. Multiply the live gram rate by the weight and you have the metal value before any labour.

Use the calculator below for any weight in grams or tolas and for the currency you think in. Remittance-minded buyers can also see the figure in rupees on our Dubai gold rate in Indian rupees page, which is the honest way to judge whether a piece is cheaper here than at home.

Remember that the result is the metal value only. The next section explains what the shop adds, and the full gold calculator lets you add a making charge and VAT to see a realistic invoice.

Making charges and VAT on 22K jewellery

Every 22K piece in the UAE is priced as metal plus labour. The metal is the weight times today's 22K rate, identical in every shop. The labour, called the making charge, is where shops compete and where you negotiate. For machine-made chains and simple bangles the charge is usually quoted per gram and is modest; for hand-finished Kerala-style sets, antique or temple designs, and anything with filigree, it is quoted as a percentage of the metal value and can be substantial. Wastage, a separate percentage still common in India, is not normally charged in Dubai, which is one of the quiet reasons the city is cheaper.

VAT of 5% is applied to the whole invoice, metal and labour together, because jewellery is not investment gold. Tourists can reclaim it at the airport through the Planet scheme; residents cannot. During the Dubai Shopping Festival, Diwali and the weeks before Eid, many chains advertise reduced or "zero" making charges on selected 22K ranges. The offers are real, but they usually apply to specific designs, so compare the final invoice rather than the headline. Our making charges guide shows how to ask for the breakdown and what counts as fair.

22K buying rate vs selling rate

When you sell 22K jewellery back, the shop does not pay the board rate. It applies a selling (or "old gold") rate for 22K that sits a little below the buying rate, then may deduct a small percentage for testing, melting or stones. The making charges you paid originally are gone; only the metal has value. That is why a bangle bought for its design and sold a year later rarely returns its purchase price, even if the gold rate has risen.

Three things improve the price you get. A clear 916 stamp on the piece, the original invoice from a UAE jeweller, and a weight that matches what the invoice says. With those, a buyer in Deira or Karama will usually offer close to the day's 22K selling rate with a minimal deduction. Without them, expect the piece to be tested, and expect a wider margin. The selling gold in Dubai guide explains the process shop by shop; if you need cash but want to keep the jewellery, a gold loan uses the same 22K rate to set the amount you can borrow.

How to check that a piece is really 22K

Look for the stamp first. Legitimate 22K jewellery sold in the UAE carries "916" or "22K" in small letters, often with the maker's mark beside it. On bangles it is inside the band; on chains it is on the clasp tag or the last link; on earrings it is on the post. A missing stamp on a new piece from a reputable shop is unusual and worth a question.

Second, ask for the invoice to state the karat and the net gold weight, not just a total price. Third, if you are buying from a small shop or a private seller, most jewellers in the souk will test a piece on an electronic tester or an XRF machine for a small fee, and the Dubai Central Laboratory offers formal assaying. Our page on hallmarks and purity checks walks through the home tests that are reliable and the ones that are not.

What people buy in 22K and why

22K is overwhelmingly a jewellery karat in the Gulf, and the pieces follow the calendar of South Asian life. Bangles and kadas are the everyday purchase, often bought in pairs and in 10-gram multiples. Bridal sets, with a necklace, earrings, and sometimes a maang tikka or haar, are the big-ticket wedding buy, and the busiest weeks are before Diwali, Akshaya Tritiya, Onam and the winter wedding season. Chains for men and children, mangalsutras, rings and small coins for gifting round out the list. See our pages on bangles, chains and necklace sets for weights and typical making charges by design.

If your goal is savings rather than wearing, 22K is not the most efficient choice: you pay labour and 5% VAT on jewellery, whereas 24K bars of 99% purity or more are zero-rated for VAT. Many families do both, buying bangles for the wedding and a few grams of bars for the long term. Carrying 22K jewellery to India is subject to customs allowances, so read the customs guide before a trip home.

Is the 22K rate the same in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman?

Yes. The daily rate is national, so the 22K gram price you see here applies in Madinat Zayed in Abu Dhabi, the Central Souk and Rolla in Sharjah, the Ajman souk, and the smaller gold rows in Al Ain, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah. What varies between those places is the selection, the making charges and how much negotiation is expected. Sharjah and Ajman shops are known for competitive labour on plain 22K bangles; Abu Dhabi's Madinat Zayed is the natural choice for residents of the capital; and the Dubai Gold Souk remains the place with the widest 22K choice in the country.

Prices on this page are indicative and update automatically from the spot market. The rate at the counter may differ by a small amount depending on when the shop last refreshed its board, and it can move while you are choosing a piece on a volatile day. Nothing here is financial advice; gold can fall as well as rise.