How to start a jewellery business in India, the complete 2026 guide

Pick your model first, it decides everything

The single most expensive mistake new jewellery founders make is deciding "I want a jewellery business" before deciding which jewellery business. The word covers four very different companies, with capital needs that differ by a factor of a hundred. Choose the model that fits the money you actually have, and the rest of this guide tells you exactly what that model needs.

A useful way to think about it: fashion and silver are marketing businesses wearing a jewellery costume, won on brand, content and reach. Gold retail is a capital and trust business, won on inventory depth, location and reputation. Most first-time founders should start light, prove they can sell, then graduate up the ladder. You can always add gold later. You cannot un-spend the deposit on a showroom that had no customers.

What it actually costs to start, in rupees

Here are realistic ranges. They move with gold prices and city rents, so treat them as the shape of the budget, not a quote, and confirm with a CA before you commit.

• Fashion and imitation, home or online: roughly ₹50,000 to ₹2 lakh. Opening inventory, good product photography, packaging, and marketplace or website fees. No rent if you start from home. This is the genuine "start a jewellery business with less money" route, and it is real, not a shortcut.
• Silver jewellery: roughly ₹2 to 10 lakh. Higher metal cost per piece, a wider range to look credible, hallmarking for silver where you choose to offer it, and stronger photography and branding because the buyer is paying more.
• Handmade and designer: ₹1 to 5 lakh to begin. Tools or a karigar relationship, raw material, and the brand-building that justifies design-led prices. Capital scales with how much you make in-house.
• Gold retail showroom: ₹50 lakh and up, often much more. The gold inventory alone is the dominant cost and a small counter still needs meaningful stock to look worth visiting. Add shop deposit and fit-out, security and CCTV, a stamped balance, BIS compliance, and insurance. This is a serious capital commitment, not a side hustle.

Margins and profitability, model by model

Is a jewellery business profitable? Yes, but how you make the money depends entirely on the model, and confusing the two is how founders price themselves into losses.

• Fashion and imitation: high percentage markups, often 40 to 100 percent or more, on low ticket sizes. The piece that costs you ₹80 sells for ₹200 to ₹400. Profit is a volume game, won on reach and repeat buyers, which is exactly why these businesses live or die on marketing.
• Silver: healthy markups on a real-metal base, typically stronger absolute profit per sale than fashion, with gifting and festival spikes. Branding lifts the price you can hold.
• Handmade and designer: the widest margins available, because the buyer pays for design and story, not grams. Capped only by how much you can produce and how well you are known.
• Gold retail: the money comes mainly from making charges, commonly 8 to 25 percent, plus a small markup on the metal. Net margins are thin, often single digits, after rent, staff and the risk that gold prices move against your stock. The business rewards volume, footfall and tight working-capital discipline far more than the headline percentage.

The pattern across all four: lighter models win on marketing and brand, the heavy model wins on capital and trust. Whichever you pick, customers do not arrive on their own, which is the part we come back to at the end.

GST, BIS hallmarking and the licence stack

Ask around and you will get five contradictory answers about what a jewellery business legally needs, with at least two people trying to sell you a consulting package on the spot. The real rules are knowable. Here is the stack, Karnataka first with Bengaluru in mind, each item with what it is and where to apply.

1. GST registration

What it is: mandatory tax registration once turnover crosses the threshold, and effectively from day one if you sell on marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart or Meesho, which require a GSTIN. Gold jewellery is taxed at 3 percent on the gold value (HSN 7113) and 5 percent on making charges. Where to apply: online at gst.gov.in, no government fee, GSTIN usually in 7 to 10 working days.

2. BIS hallmarking and HUID, the rule unique to gold

What it is: the rule that separates selling gold from selling everything else. BIS hallmarking governs the sale of gold jewellery to consumers. BIS jeweller registration is free, instant and lifetime on the nsws.gov.in portal, and in a mandatory hallmarking district such as Bengaluru Urban every gold article you sell must carry the 6-digit HUID. Imitation, fashion and most silver pieces sit outside the mandatory gold hallmarking order. Where to apply: nsws.gov.in for jeweller registration; confirm whether your district is in the mandatory hallmarking list before you sell a single gold piece.

3. Shop and establishment registration, the Form C certificate

What it is: registration of your shop under the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961, required within 30 days of starting business. The certificate is called Form C, so "Form C registration" and "shop and establishment registration" are the same thing, one fee, one certificate, displayed on the wall. Where to apply: online on the e-Karmika portal of the Karnataka Labour Department. Fees scale with headcount: ₹405 with no employees, ₹810 for 1 to 9, ₹5,400 for 10 to 19, ₹13,500 for 20 to 49. Often issued in 1 to 2 working days, valid 5 years.

4. Trade licence, in Bengaluru the BBMP permission

What it is: the municipal licence to run a specific trade at specific premises. Inside Bengaluru this is the BBMP permission; other Karnataka cities issue the equivalent through the local municipal body. Apply 30 days before opening. Where to apply: via bbmp.gov.in. Note the BBMP signboard rule, at least 60 percent Kannada, and design the shopfront for it from the start rather than redoing it after a notice.

5. Legal Metrology, the stamped weighing scale

What it is: any weighing instrument used for trade must be verified and stamped by the Legal Metrology Department before use, and re-verified periodically. For a gold or silver business the balance is the most scrutinised machine in the shop. Fashion jewellery sold by piece may not need it, by-weight selling does. Where to apply: Karnataka's e-Mapan portal. Check the approved model list before buying the balance.

6. Professional tax and Udyam (MSME) registration

What it is: professional tax is Karnataka's small mandatory levy, the business enrols and pays ₹2,500 a year. Udyam is the free, optional MSME registration that unlocks bank-credit comfort and subsidy support, and takes ten minutes. Where to apply: ptax.karnataka.gov.in and udyamregistration.gov.in.

7. Entity, PAN and current account

What it is: the legal foundation every registration above asks for, a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLP or private limited company, with PAN and a current account. A proprietorship is fastest for a home or online start; a private limited company reads better for a brand you plan to scale or raise money for. Where to apply: company or LLP at mca.gov.in; a proprietorship needs no separate incorporation. Ask a CA which fits your plan.

Sourcing, stock and where you sell

Where you buy and where you sell define the business as much as the licences do. A short orientation:

• Sourcing. Fashion and imitation come from wholesale hubs and manufacturers, with online B2B platforms making small first orders easy. Silver and gold come through bullion dealers, karigars and established manufacturers. Start with smaller, verified suppliers and a tight range rather than a warehouse of stock you cannot photograph or sell.
• Where you sell. Online-first brands sell through their own website, Instagram and marketplaces, which suits fashion, silver and designer. Physical-first suits gold, where buyers want to see, weigh and trust. The strongest new brands run both, an online storefront that builds the audience and a presence, even a small one, that closes the higher-value sales.
• The float, for gold sellers. Gold inventory is cash sitting on a shelf. Plan working capital for stock you hold and the festival spikes when you need more of it, exactly when it costs the most.

The launch checklist, idea to first sale

The order of operations, condensed. Run applications in parallel where you can.

1. Choose your model and your budget. Fashion, silver, designer or gold. Everything below scales to this one decision.
2. Choose your entity, get PAN, open a current account. Every registration downstream asks for these three.
3. Register for GST on gst.gov.in. Required from day one if you sell on marketplaces, and the foundation of clean invoicing either way.
4. If you sell gold, take BIS jeweller registration and confirm HUID rules for your district before the first gold piece goes out. Skip if you sell only fashion or silver.
5. Register on e-Karmika for the Form C certificate within 30 days of starting, then display it.
6. Apply for the BBMP trade licence 30 days before opening a physical shop, and order the 60 percent Kannada signboard now.
7. If you sell by weight, buy an approved balance and get it stamped via e-Mapan. Diarise re-verification.
8. Enrol for professional tax, take the free Udyam registration. An hour of portals, done.
9. Build the storefront and the range. Product photography, a website or marketplace listings, packaging, and a tight, well-shot starting collection rather than everything at once.
10. Line up the brand and the launch. Name, logo, an Instagram and Google presence, and a plan for the first hundred customers before you open, not after.

Do all ten and you open with cleaner paperwork and a sharper brand than most jewellery businesses that have traded for years. Then comes the part no portal can give you: customers actually finding you. That problem has a specialist too. Read on.

When the shutters open: now you need customers

Everything above gets you to a legal, well-stocked, well-branded jewellery business. None of it brings a single buyer to your page or your counter. Demand is a separate craft, and it is the one we practise daily: Apex Influence is the agency behind marketing for gold and jewellery businesses, built for this industry, from a home-based label to a multi-store chain. Billing is factual and boring on purpose: one agreed commission rate, transparent reporting, written scope.

Found the moment a buyer is searching. The growth engine combines search rankings that put you in front of buyers looking for your style and city, Google Ads that catch high-intent shoppers, and Meta and Instagram ads that turn a beautiful catalogue into sales (feature). Instead of waiting for word of mouth to build over years, you reach buyers who are ready now (advantage), so your inventory turns and your brand compounds from the first season (benefit).

And if you want to study the craft first, start with our owner guides on getting more customers for a jewellery business, then talk to us when you are ready to grow.

Launching a jewellery brand this year?

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One agreed commission rate. Transparent reporting. Bengaluru and everywhere buyers search.