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Gold rate today in Dubai

Today's indicative gold rate for Dubai and the UAE in dirhams per gram — 24K, 22K, 21K and 18K — derived from live international spot with the full formula published. The UAE charges no import duty on gold, so this figure sits much closer to a Dubai shop's board than the equivalent derivation does anywhere else.

Gold in Dubai AED 549.12 per gram (24K) · AED 503.36 (22K) · AED 480.48 (21K) · +1.00% on the session · as of Mon, 24 Aug 2026, 19:45 UTC

Spot source: Swissquote Bank · FX: Frankfurter (European Central Bank) (2026-08-24) · as of Mon, 24 Aug 2026, 19:45 UTC · how this is derived

Why Dubai gold is cheaper

Gold costs the same everywhere at the wholesale level: there is one world price, quoted in dollars per troy ounce, and every market converts from it. What differs is what each country adds on the way to a shop window, and the UAE adds close to nothing.

• No import duty. Gold enters the UAE free of customs duty. India charges 15%, and that duty is inside the metal rate before a jeweller adds a thing.
• No VAT on investment metal. Bullion of 99% purity or higher, in bar or approved coin form, is zero-rated. Jewellery is standard-rated at 5%, and a visitor can usually reclaim most of that on the way home.
• Lower making charges. Several hundred retailers competing inside one district keeps labour charges down, and they are openly negotiable.
• No currency drift against the dollar. The dirham is pegged, so a Dubai gold price moves only when the metal moves.

None of that makes gold an investment, and none of it survives a long enough flight: the saving is real on the metal and can be undone by a return fare, a customs declaration, or a making charge negotiated badly. The section on Dubai against India puts numbers on the part that is actually saved.

The dirham is pegged to the dollar

The UAE dirham has been fixed to the US dollar since 1997, at 3.6725 dirhams to the dollar. That makes the Dubai gold price unusual among the markets on this site: it is the only one where the currency contributes no movement at all. A rupee or euro gold price can rise on a day the dollar price fell, purely because the currency moved — a gold price is always a price in something — but a dirham price cannot. When the number on this page changes, the metal changed.

Gold rate in Dubai by weight

The same rate at the weights a purchase comes in, in all four purities Dubai deals in. Every figure is the metal alone, before making charges and before any VAT on jewellery.

21K — the purity Dubai sells that India does not

21K is 875 fine, 87.5% gold, and it is a Gulf standard that most other markets never stock. It sits between the 22K (916) that Indian jewellery is made from and the 18K (750) common in Europe: harder-wearing than 22K, and carrying more gold than 18K. A great deal of everyday Gulf jewellery is 21K, and a visitor comparing a Dubai price against an Indian one is often comparing two different metals without noticing.

Each rate is an exact fraction of the 24K figure — 22/24, 21/24, 18/24 — before any making charge. Those are ratios, not estimates, and 22K vs 24K gold and what 916 means explains where the hallmark numbers come from.

Dubai against India, on the same ounce

Both figures below start from the same spot price at the same instant and use the same published exchange rates, so the difference between them is not a market view — it is India's 15% import duty and its trade premium, and nothing else. Both are quoted in rupees per 10 grams so they can be read side by side, and both exclude tax at the counter.

That gap widened sharply in May 2026, when India raised its import duty on bullion from 6% to 15% — reversing the 2024 cut that had narrowed it. On the metal alone the case for buying in Dubai is stronger now than it has been in years.

What the table cannot tell you is whether the trip pays. Against the saving, set the airfare, the making charges you actually negotiate, the 5% UAE VAT on jewellery if you do not reclaim it, and the Indian duty owed on anything above the customs allowance. For a purchase of a few tens of grams the saving is usually smaller than the journey; for someone already travelling, it is not.

VAT, and reclaiming it as a visitor

The UAE has charged 5% VAT since January 2018, and gold is treated in two distinct ways under it:

• Investment-grade bullion — 99% purity or higher, in bar or approved coin form — is zero-rated. No VAT is charged on it.
• Jewellery is standard-rated at 5%, on the metal and the making charges together. A 22K bangle is jewellery, not investment metal, however pure the gold in it is — this is the distinction most often got wrong.

A visitor who is not a GCC resident can reclaim most of the VAT paid on jewellery through the Planet tax-free scheme: ask for a tagged invoice at the till on purchases above AED 250, then validate the receipt at a kiosk before leaving. The refund is a large majority of the VAT, not all of it — an administration fee is deducted — and it needs time at the airport rather than a dash to the gate. The UAE Federal Tax Authority is the authority on what qualifies.

Making charges work differently here

India quotes making charges as a percentage of metal value, so the labour bill rises with the gold price. Dubai quotes them as a flat number of dirhams per gram, commonly around 10 to 20 dirhams per gram for machine-made pieces at the souk and considerably more for intricate or branded work. Two consequences follow, and both favour the buyer.

The charge does not inflate when gold rallies, and because it is quoted as its own number rather than buried in a percentage, it is negotiable in the open — expected to be, in the souk. Ask for the metal rate and the making charge separately before discussing a total. A shop that will only quote one combined figure is a shop that has made the comparison difficult on purpose. The jewellery price calculator takes a making charge and shows what it does to a total.

Where gold is bought in Dubai

The Gold Souk in Deira is the one everybody means: several hundred retailers in a covered lane, and the district the Dubai Jewellery Group's board rate is associated with. Density is the point — the shops are competing within sight of each other, on making charges rather than on the metal rate, which is the same across the street.

Gold & Diamond Park on Sheikh Zayed Road is the air-conditioned alternative, quieter and geared to made-to-order work. Meena Bazaar in Bur Dubai serves the South Asian market and stocks 22K heavily. Mall jewellers carry the international brands at brand pricing, where the design rather than the metal is what is being sold.

Whatever the counter, the metal rate should track the board — it is the making charge, the weight and the purity stamp that need checking.

Bringing gold from Dubai to India

This is where a saving is most often lost. Under India's baggage rules a passenger who has stayed abroad for more than one year may bring duty-free gold jewellery of up to 40 grams for a woman and 20 grams for a man. The allowance covers worn personal jewellery only — bars and coins are excluded entirely — and anything beyond it must be declared at the red channel and duty paid on it.

With the import duty now at 15% plus GST at the counter, the duty owed on an undeclared excess can wipe out the reason for buying abroad, and the penalty for not declaring it is worse. These rules are set by India's Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and they change — the figures above were checked on 2026-08-24, and anyone travelling should confirm them at the source rather than from a rate page.

Dubai gold for the last 10 days

Ten daily closes in dirhams per gram, metal only. Because the dirham is pegged to the dollar, this table needs none of the caveats its Indian equivalent carries: there is no exchange-rate movement mixed into it, so every change here is a change in the metal.

How this rate is worked out

We take the international spot price of gold in US dollars per troy ounce, divide by 31.1034768 to get a dollar price per gram, and multiply by the published USD/AED rate. There is no import duty term and no premium term, because the UAE imposes neither — which is why the Dubai derivation is the shortest on this site.

Compare that with the rupee derivation, which carries duty, a trade premium and a city adjustment on top of the same starting number. Every constant and every source is on the methodology page, with the date each was last checked — currently 2026-08-24.

Frequently asked questions

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Rates are indicative wholesale figures, exclude making charges and are not an offer to buy or sell. Tax and customs rules are general information, not advice. Read the methodology and the risk disclaimer.