Silver Rate Today in Darjeeling – 7 Nov 2026, 4 AM IST

The figures in the live table are bullion reference rates for Darjeeling, quoted per gram for 999 fine silver and 925 sterling silver, refreshed every business day against MCX and IBJA benchmarks.

Darjeeling, leased from Sikkim by the British in 1835 and developed as a hill station and world-famous tea growing region, has a jewellery trade concentrated around the Chowrasta market square. This page covers today's rate, how it is set, making charges and GST, purity verification, where to buy and sell, Darjeeling's hill station and tea history, the buying calendar, taxation and a detailed FAQ.

The weight table converts today's per gram rate into the denominations Darjeeling buyers transact in, from a single gram through 10 grams, 100 grams and a kilogram, for both 999 and 925 purity.

Jewellery bought for weddings and festivals varies in weight by design, while coins bought for Dhanteras and gifting follow standard denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 grams.

A single day's rate tells you very little. The last ten sessions tell you whether today's print sits at the top of a run, at the bottom of a pullback, or in the middle of a flat stretch.

Read the net movement from the earliest session to today, the high and low that define the trading range, and whether daily changes are small and steady or large and alternating. Silver swings harder in percentage terms than gold on the same news, so expect a wider range here than on a gold rate page over the same ten days.

The trend table sets today's Darjeeling rate against its opening and closing values over seven days, 30 days and 12 months. The shorter windows capture sentiment; the 12 month window captures the structural story, chiefly industrial demand, ETF investment flows and the gold to silver ratio.

Darjeeling tracks the national IBJA benchmark. West Bengal and the wider eastern Himalayan region have a mixed cultural tradition of gold, silver and traditional Tibetan and Nepali jewellery, and Darjeeling's retail demand reflects this regional pattern rather than any industrial use of the metal locally.

Silver trades continuously in US dollars per troy ounce on COMEX and the London Bullion Market Association benchmark, converts at the prevailing USD to INR rate, and picks up customs duty, cess and GST before reaching Indian retail. Darjeeling's jewellers price against the national IBJA reference rate, adding a modest local premium.

West Bengal and the wider eastern Himalayan region have a mixed cultural tradition of gold, silver and traditional Tibetan and Nepali jewellery, and Darjeeling's retail demand reflects this regional pattern rather than any industrial use of the metal locally.

Real interest rates, the US dollar, industrial demand and investment flows move the international price. The rupee's exchange rate and Indian import duty changes move the local price on top of that.

Locally, Darjeeling's demand follows the Hindu and Buddhist festival calendars observed across its diverse hill population, with a marked pickup around Dashain, Diwali, Dhanteras and the wedding season, alongside steady demand from tourism.

999 fine silver is 99.9 percent pure and is the form used for investment coins and bars, popular during Dhanteras.

925 sterling silver, 92.5 percent pure with the remainder mostly copper, is the standard for jewellery, anklets and gift items sold through Darjeeling's shops.

Confirm which purity a quote refers to before comparing shops; the two are not interchangeable in price.

The rate on this page is the metal price. What you pay at the counter adds making charges, then GST at 3 percent on the total of metal plus making.

What making charges run in Darjeeling

• Silver coins | roughly 3 to 8 percent
• Standard and festive jewellery | roughly 8 to 18 percent depending on design
• Utensils and gift items | roughly 5 to 15 percent

A worked example: a 40 gram silver ornament with 14 percent making adds 14 percent to the metal value, then 3 percent GST on that subtotal, for a final bill roughly 17.4 percent above the pure metal value.

Silver hallmarking is not yet as universally enforced as gold hallmarking, so buyer diligence matters more here.

• Look for a BIS hallmark stamp where the piece carries one
• Ask the jeweller to weigh the piece in front of you and confirm the purity claim against the day's rate
• For a larger purchase, ask for an acid or electronic purity test before paying

Buying from an established jeweller in Darjeeling with a GST invoice is the safer route.

Darjeeling's commercial life grew directly out of its role as a British colonial hill station and tea growing centre, and no separately named historic silver bazaar for the town itself is on record.

Lease from Sikkim and colonial development

Darjeeling was leased from the ruler of Sikkim in 1835 by the British East India Company and formally annexed in 1849. The British identified it as an ideal summer retreat and developed it as a hill station, with the municipality officially established on 1 July 1850. European-style cottages were built and thousands of labourers, mostly from Nepal, were recruited to clear forests and work on the plantations that followed.

The birth of Darjeeling tea

Tea cultivation began experimentally in 1840 and proved remarkably successful, expanding from 56 gardens between 1850 and 1870 to 100 gardens by the end of the century, eventually employing around 64,000 workers with women making up roughly 60 percent of plantation labour. Darjeeling tea received Geographical Indication status from the WTO in 2005, protecting the name and supporting the regional economy.

The mountain railway

By the late 19th century, the narrow-gauge Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was carrying summer residents into the town and freight of tea out for export, a UNESCO World Heritage line that remains a defining symbol of the town.

Chowrasta, the town square

Chowrasta functions as Darjeeling's popular shopping and gathering square, where tourists engage with local culture and purchase regional goods, serving as the closest thing the town has to a central market.

Darjeeling's jewellery trade is concentrated around Chowrasta, the town's central market square, rather than a separately named historic silver bazaar.

• Chowrasta and the surrounding Mall Road shops | established jewellery shops serving residents and tourists

What to check wherever you buy

• BIS hallmark where the piece carries one
• The day's rate displayed and the making charge quoted as a percentage in writing
• A proper GST invoice carrying weight, purity, rate and making charge

Exchange at an established jeweller near Chowrasta, ideally the one who sold it, with the piece weighed and tested in front of you. Avoid unlicensed street buyers.

Silver buying in Darjeeling follows the Hindu festival calendar.

• Dashain and Tihar, major Nepali festivals observed widely in Darjeeling | gifting and jewellery buying peaks
• Dhanteras and Diwali | the biggest occasions for silver coins and utensils
• The wedding season | a further peak

Darjeeling's buying calendar reflects its diverse hill population, shaped as much by Dashain and Tihar, the major Nepali festivals, as by the national Hindu festival cycle of Dhanteras and Diwali.

Taxes on silver are set nationally, so nothing here is specific to this city, but three layers matter to every buyer.

At purchase, GST at 3 percent applies on the value of the metal plus making charges. At sale, profit on physical silver held over the qualifying period is taxed as long term capital gains; shorter holdings are taxed at your slab rate, and your original invoice establishes the cost basis. Large cash purchases require PAN above the prescribed threshold.

None of this is tax advice; thresholds and rates change with the Finance Act. For a large transaction, confirm current rules with a chartered accountant.

Silver is more volatile than gold day to day, since it carries a genuine industrial demand component nationally alongside its investment role. That makes it higher risk, higher potential reward, not a straightforward substitute for gold.

In Darjeeling specifically, when gold crosses roughly 80,000 rupees per 10 grams, many families shift to silver for festival gifts, wedding items and savings. Coins and bars in 999 purity carry the lowest making cost and recover the most value on resale; festive jewellery in 925 carries making charges you do not recover.

For most Darjeeling households the practical split is: jewellery and gift items bought for their occasion and design, and separately, simple 999 coins or small bars bought purely as savings.

Silver in India traded around 37,000 to 40,000 rupees per kilogram in 2015 and 2016, and stayed close to that band through 2018 and 2019. The metal rose steadily after the pandemic, crossing 78,000 rupees per kilogram in 2023.

The RBI's annual average for financial year 2024 to 2025 stood at roughly 89,000 rupees per kilogram, and financial year 2025 to 2026 saw an increase of about 82 percent to roughly 1,62,000 rupees per kilogram, the sharpest annual rise in the modern data series. MCX spot silver briefly touched close to 3,59,000 rupees per kilogram in January 2026 before correcting.

Over the full decade, an investor holding physical silver from 2015 through 2025 saw their holding value roughly triple, before the sharp further move into 2026. Darjeeling's local rates have tracked this national curve throughout, since the city prices off the same national IBJA benchmark as the rest of India.

Unlike gold, over half of global silver demand now comes from industry rather than jewellery or investment, chiefly solar panels, electric vehicles, semiconductors and 5G hardware. This structurally tighter supply picture is a genuine difference from gold, and it is a major reason silver has moved more sharply than gold in recent years.

India is the world's largest consumer of silver and imports over 80 percent of its requirement. In September 2025 the government restricted imports of plain silver jewellery to curb duty evasion, and in May 2026 raised the import duty on silver bullion. Policy changes like these can move the domestic price independently of the global rate for a period. Darjeeling's economy runs on tea cultivation and tourism rather than industry, so none of the national industrial silver demand is sourced or consumed locally.

Whether rates fall from current levels depends on factors nobody can predict with certainty, including global interest rates, industrial demand growth and rupee movement. Anyone telling you they know the answer with confidence is guessing. The practical approach is to buy against your own need and timeline rather than trying to time the market.

Silver is more volatile than gold day to day because of its industrial demand component, which means larger swings in both directions. Over the last decade silver has actually outpaced gold in percentage terms during rally phases, though it also falls harder during pullbacks.

Equity markets have historically delivered higher long run returns than precious metals, but with far more volatility tied to company and economic performance rather than metal supply and demand. Debt instruments such as fixed deposits and bonds give predictable, lower returns with minimal price risk.

None of these asset classes is a straightforward substitute for another. Silver's role in a Darjeeling household's savings is usually as a small, liquid holding alongside other assets, not a replacement for equity or debt.

Physical silver, bought as coins, bars or jewellery from a Darjeeling jeweller, gives you something you can hold, gift or wear, but it attracts 3 percent GST at purchase, requires safe storage, and jewellery carries making charges you do not recover on resale.

Silver ETFs, listed on the NSE and BSE, let you hold silver electronically without storage concerns or GST on the transaction, and can be bought and sold through a regular demat account. Both physical silver and silver ETFs are taxed the same way, at 12.5 percent on long term capital gains without indexation for holdings over 12 months, under the rules applicable for financial year 2025 to 2026.

Unlike gold, India currently has no sovereign bond equivalent for silver, so ETFs and physical metal remain the two main routes for most investors.

India imports over 80 percent of the silver it consumes, mostly as bullion classified under HS Code 7106, cleared through customs and the ICEGATE electronic filing system before reaching refiners and bullion dealers.

Import policy has shifted more than once recently. Silver bullion duty was cut to 6 percent in 2025 to curb smuggling, plain silver jewellery imports were restricted from September 2025 to limit duty evasion through trade agreements, and bullion duty was then raised again in May 2026. Because these rules change, the duty in effect at any given time should be confirmed rather than assumed.

More than half of global silver demand today comes from industry rather than jewellery, with solar panels, electric vehicles, semiconductors and medical devices among the largest consumers. Darjeeling's economy runs on tea cultivation and tourism rather than industry, so none of the national industrial silver demand is sourced or consumed locally.

• 999 fine silver: silver that is 99.9 percent pure, used for coins and bars
• 925 sterling silver: silver mixed with copper for strength, the standard for jewellery
• Making charges: the fee a jeweller adds for crafting a piece, on top of the metal value
• Hallmark: the BIS purity certification mark stamped on eligible pieces
• HUID: the unique six digit hallmark identification number used to trace a certified piece
• Tola: a traditional unit of weight equal to approximately 11.66 grams
• Troy ounce: the international unit silver is quoted in globally, equal to 31.1035 grams
• IBJA: the India Bullion and Jewellers Association, source of the national reference rate
• MCX: the Multi Commodity Exchange, where silver futures trade in India
• LTCG: long term capital gains, the tax on profit from silver held beyond the qualifying period
• Silver ETF: an exchange traded fund that holds physical silver and trades like a stock

Darjeeling's jewellery trade grew alongside the town's development as a British hill station from 1835 and its emergence as a world-famous tea growing centre through the second half of the 19th century. The shops around Chowrasta remain the trading centre for jewellery today, though no separately documented historic silversmithing guild is on record.

Nationally, rising silver prices through 2024, 2025 and 2026 have made buyers more price sensitive, and jewellery volumes in weight terms have come under pressure even where spending in rupee terms held steady. This national pattern is a reasonable guide to local retail trade.

What has held up in Darjeeling is demand tied to the town's diverse festival calendar, particularly Dashain and Tihar, alongside steady tourist footfall drawn by the hill station's tea gardens and mountain views.

Silver and property serve fundamentally different purposes as assets, and comparing them directly can be misleading. Property in Darjeeling requires a large upfront commitment, carries registration and stamp duty costs, and cannot be sold in part if you need only a portion of your money back. Silver can be bought and sold in small increments, from a single gram upward, and converted to cash at a jeweller within minutes.

Property in Darjeeling, particularly near Chowrasta and the Mall, can generate rental income from the town's steady tourist trade, but it is illiquid, faces geographic and construction constraints on the hillside, and requires ongoing maintenance. Silver generates no income and must be stored securely, but it carries no maintenance burden and its value is set by a transparent national benchmark rather than local negotiation.

Most Darjeeling households do not choose between the two. Property tends to serve as a long term family asset, while silver serves as a smaller, liquid holding for near term needs and festival occasions.

If you are in Darjeeling and considering a silver or lab grown diamond jewellery purchase, Lucira offers hallmarked silver and certified lab grown diamond pieces with transparent, itemised pricing and doorstep delivery across India, so you can compare designs and pricing without needing to visit multiple local shops.

Every Lucira piece is priced against the live daily rate shown on this page, with making charges and certification costs shown separately, the same transparency you should expect from any established jeweller in Darjeeling.

A proper invoice from a Darjeeling jeweller should show five separate lines: the net silver weight in grams, the purity, the rate applied per gram that day, the making charge as a percentage or flat fee, and GST at 3 percent applied on the metal plus making charge combined.

If a piece carries stones or beads, the invoice should state the net silver weight separately from the gross weight, since you should only be charged the silver rate on the silver itself, not on the stones. Ask for this breakdown before paying if it is not shown automatically.

A hallmarked piece should also show the HUID number on the invoice, which lets you verify the certification independently through the BIS CARE app.

• A quoted rate below the day's published benchmark, which usually means lower purity than claimed
• Gross weight billed as if it were net silver weight, especially on stone set pieces
• Making charges quoted verbally but not itemised on the final bill
• No willingness to weigh the piece in front of you before billing

Comparing two or three established shops in Darjeeling before a significant purchase is worthwhile.

Silver tarnishes when exposed to air and humidity, unlike gold, so storage matters more, particularly through India's humid monsoon months.

Keep pieces in an airtight pouch or box, ideally with an anti tarnish strip, away from direct sunlight and the more humid parts of the house during the monsoon. For larger holdings of coins or bars, a bank locker remains the most secure option, though it carries an annual rental cost that should be weighed against the value stored. A home safe is a reasonable middle ground for smaller quantities, provided it is fixed and insured.

Keep your original purchase invoice with your stored silver, since it establishes purity, weight and cost basis if you need to sell or claim insurance later.

Many jewellers in Darjeeling offer monthly instalment schemes where you deposit a fixed amount each month for a set period, typically 11 months, and the jeweller adds a bonus instalment or discount at the end, redeemable against silver or gold jewellery.

Before joining one, confirm in writing whether the redemption value is locked at the rate on the day of each deposit or the rate on the day of redemption, since this materially changes the scheme's value, and check whether the bonus is forfeited if you exit early or miss an instalment.

These schemes are not regulated the way bank deposits are, so only join one with an established, well known jeweller.

• Jewellery from Chowrasta and Mall Road shops: standard designs alongside Nepali and Tibetan-influenced silver jewellery, making charges reflect craftsmanship
• 999 silver bars and bullion from established jewellers: low making charges of about 1 to 3 percent, best for pure savings
• Silver coins, idols and utensils: 999 purity Lakshmi Ganesh coins standard for Dhanteras, silver idols and puja items popular year round
• Silver ETFs: no storage or GST, held in a demat account, cannot be worn or gifted physically
• Digital silver apps and MCX futures: for savings and active trading respectively

Most Darjeeling households use a mix, jewellery for weddings and festivals, and coins, bars or ETFs for pure savings, rather than picking one route exclusively.

Under the rules applicable for financial year 2025 to 2026, profit on physical silver or silver ETFs held for more than 12 months is taxed as long term capital gains at 12.5 percent without indexation. Holdings sold within 12 months are taxed as short term gains at your income tax slab rate.

Your gain is calculated as the sale price minus your original purchase cost, including making charges you paid, which is why keeping your original invoice matters. A 4 percent health and education cess applies on top of the tax, along with any applicable surcharge.

Tax rules change through Finance Act amendments most years, so confirm the current holding period and rate with a chartered accountant before a large sale, rather than relying on this or any other page.

Unlike gold, there is no prescribed ceiling on how much silver an individual can hold in India, provided it is acquired through disclosed, taxed income and you can produce invoices if asked.

Cash payments for a single silver purchase above the prescribed threshold require your PAN card to be furnished to the jeweller, and payments above two lakh rupees in cash for a single transaction are not permitted under income tax rules regardless of PAN. Paying digitally or by cheque avoids this limit entirely and is the more practical route for larger purchases.

Always retain your purchase invoices in Darjeeling, since they are your primary evidence of legitimate ownership if silver holdings are ever questioned.

Darjeeling does not have a separately named historic silver bazaar. Its jewellery trade is concentrated around Chowrasta and the adjoining Mall Road, the town's central shopping square since its development as a hill station.

These shops carry the bulk of the town's established jewellers, serving both Darjeeling's own diverse hill population and the large number of tourists who visit for its tea gardens, mountain views and colonial-era architecture.

For any significant silver purchase, visiting two or three established shops around Chowrasta to compare making charges and designs before deciding is a reasonable and common practice among local buyers.