What a Tola Actually Weighs — And Why It Is Exactly 3/8 of an Ounce

If you buy gold in Pakistan, India, Nepal or Bangladesh, you buy it by the tola — or by the vori, which is the same weight under a different name. Yet almost every online source rounds it to "about 11.66 grams" and moves on.

The rounding matters. On a single tola of gold, the difference between 11.66 and the true figure is small. On a kilogram of trade, it is not.

The exact figure

One tola = 11.6638038 grams.

That is not a measurement anyone took with a scale. It is a definition:

1 tola = 3/8 of a troy ounce, exactly.

A troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams. Three-eighths of that is 11.6638038 grams. The relationship is exact by construction, which is why the decimal runs so far without becoming ragged.

Where the definition came from

The tola was a traditional South Asian unit long before it was standardised, originally tied to the weight of specific seeds and later to coinage. Under British administration it was fixed against the imperial system, and the value chosen — 180 troy grains — happens to be precisely three-eighths of a troy ounce.

That is why the modern tola sits at such a tidy fraction of an ounce: it was aligned to the troy system, and the alignment stuck. When the subcontinent moved to metric, the tola kept its troy-derived definition rather than being rounded to a neat metric number.

The sub-units still in use

The tola divides down, and these units still appear in older jewellery shops and in inherited pieces:

• 1 tola = 12 masha — one masha is 0.97198365 g
• 1 masha = 8 ratti — one ratti is 0.121497956 g
• So 1 tola = 96 ratti

You will occasionally see a small piece quoted in masha, particularly in Pakistan. Ratti is now mostly used for gemstones rather than gold.

Vori, bhori, and the same weight by other names

In Bangladesh, the equivalent unit is the vori (also written bhori), and it is identical: 11.6638038 grams. It divides into 16 ana, each 0.7289877 g — a different subdivision from the masha system, but the same parent unit.

Sri Lanka uses the pavan or sovereign instead, which is a clean 8 grams — a genuinely different weight, and worth watching if you are comparing prices across those markets.

Why this matters when you are buying

Two practical consequences.

First, converting between markets. If you want to compare a Karachi rate with a Dubai rate, you are comparing a per-tola price with a per-gram price. Getting the conversion factor slightly wrong shifts the comparison enough to hide a real difference in premium. Use the exact figure.

Second, weighing. Jewellery scales work in grams. Your piece will be weighed in grams and then priced against a per-tola rate, which means a conversion happens in the shop. It is entirely reasonable to check that arithmetic — and it is easier than it sounds:

Tolas = grams ÷ 11.6638038

A 35-gram chain is 35 ÷ 11.6638038 = 3.0007 tola. If the shop is calling it 3 tola, that is correct. If it is being called 2.9, ask.

Tola prices are not just converted prices

One thing that confuses newcomers: the local tola rate in Pakistan or India is not always exactly the international spot price converted at the market exchange rate. Local rates are set by jewellers' associations and can carry a premium over the international equivalent, driven by local supply, import costs, duties and currency access.

That premium is real and it moves. Comparing the international-derived figure with the local association rate tells you how large it is on any given day — which is genuinely useful information, and something most rate sites never show you at all.

Our tola price page shows the international spot price converted to the tola at the live exchange rate, alongside every karat, so you have the baseline to compare against.

The quick reference

You can convert between all of these, with live prices attached, using our unit converter.