Tola, Masha, Ratti: Pakistan’s Gold Weight Units Explained

Quick answer: one tola of gold is 11.664 grams, made of 12 masha; each masha is 8 ratti, so a tola is 96 ratti. That’s the whole system. Everything below is just that sentence, applied to real life.

Here’s what actually matters when you’re standing in a sarafa bazaar and the jeweller says “do tola, chaar masha”: you want to know — instantly, without pulling out a phone — whether the number on his scale matches the number on your bill. This guide gives you that instinct.

The three units, in one table

Pakistan’s gold trade runs on three old units. They stack neatly, like Russian dolls:

Unit	In grams	In tola	Relationship
1 tola	11.664	1	The standard — all rates are quoted in this
1 masha	0.972	1/12	12 masha = 1 tola
1 ratti	0.1215	1/96	8 ratti = 1 masha

The exact international figure is 11.6638 grams per tola — the 180-troy-grain standard the British fixed for India back in 1833, and Pakistan inherited it. Jewellers round it to 11.66. For anything you’re actually buying, 11.664 is the number to memorise. An authoritative unit-conversion reference lists the same standard values.

Why one tola isn’t always one tola

Here’s the catch nobody prints on the shop window: some Pakistani bullion markets quote a “market tola” (bazari tola) of 12.5 grams instead of the standard 11.664. That’s a 7% difference — on a one-tola purchase at today’s rate, it swings the price by roughly thirty thousand rupees.

I’m not calling it a scam; it’s an old local convention, and plenty of honest shops use it. But your bill should tell you which tola you paid for. Before money changes hands, ask one question: “tola kitne gram ka?” If the answer is 12.5, adjust every calculation below by that factor — or walk to the next shop. In my experience, the jeweller who answers that question without flinching is the one worth buying from.

A ratti was once an actual seed

The ratti has the best origin story of the three. Long before standardised weights, Indian goldsmiths weighed tiny amounts of gold against gunja seeds — the small, bright-red seeds of the Abrus precatorius vine, also called ratti seeds. The seeds are remarkably uniform in weight, so eight of them made a masha and ninety-six made a tola.

Think about that the next time someone says “chaar ratti ka sona.” You’re quoting a price in seeds. (Fun footnote: the seeds are poisonous — beautiful, uniform, and mildly deadly. Goldsmiths handled them daily for centuries.) The masha’s history follows the same seed-based lineage.

Converting in your head

You don’t need a calculator for everyday numbers. These shortcuts get you within a fraction of a percent — close enough to spot a bad bill:

You have	Quick method	Example
Grams → tola	Divide by 12 (exact: ÷11.664)	100 g ≈ 8.33 tola (exact 8.57)
Tola → grams	Multiply by 12, then subtract a little	5 tola ≈ 60 g (exact 58.3 g)
Masha → grams	Masha minus 3%	10 masha ≈ 9.7 g (exact 9.72 g)
Ratti → grams	Ratti divided by 8	16 ratti ≈ 2 g (exact 1.94 g)
Tola → ratti	Multiply by 96	2 tola = 192 ratti
Kilograms → tola	Multiply by 85.7	1 kg = 85.73 tola

Why bother memorising these? Because the jeweller’s scale reads in grams and his price list reads in tola, and the gap between the two is where mistakes — innocent and otherwise — live. A buyer who can convert both ways is a buyer who can’t be quietly overcharged.

Putting it to work: pricing real gold

Let’s run a real example. As I write this (17 October 2026), the Karachi sarafa board shows 24K gold at about Rs. 439,500 per tola and 22K at Rs. 402,900 per tola. Rates move daily — check today’s board before you buy. But the maths works the same on any day.

Say you’re pricing a 5-tola 22K bridal set:

Step	Calculation	Amount
Gold value	5 × Rs. 402,900	Rs. 2,014,500
Weight in grams	5 × 11.664	58.32 g
Per-masha price	402,900 ÷ 12	Rs. 33,575
Per-ratti price	402,900 ÷ 96	Rs. 4,197

That Rs. 2,014,500 is the gold value only. Making charges (ujrat) come on top — either a fixed amount per gram or a percentage, and they vary wildly between shops. Always ask for the two numbers separately: gold value and making charges. A bill that lumps them into one mysterious total is a bill you can’t verify.

Where the tola meets zakat

These units aren’t just for shopping. The zakat nisab for gold is 7.5 tola (87.48 grams) — hold that much gold for a lunar year and 2.5% becomes due. At the rate above, 7.5 tola works out to roughly Rs. 3.3 million.

If you’re doing that calculation seriously, the masha-and-ratti arithmetic gets fiddly fast — 7 tola 6 masha here, a silver threshold there. We’re building a free zakat calculator for exactly this; until it’s live, convert everything to grams first (tola × 11.664) and work from there. It’s the one place where I’d never trust mental math with real money.

What I’d check before paying

Four things, in order, from someone who’s watched enough gold bills being written:

1. Which tola? Ask outright — 11.66 or 12.5. Get it on the bill.
2. Grams and tola side by side. The scale says grams; the price says tola. Convert one to the other yourself (×11.664) and make sure they agree.
3. Karat stamp. 22K jewellery should be stamped 916. No stamp, no deal — or at least a much lower price.
4. Split the bill. Gold value, making charges, and any “katt” (deduction on exchange) as separate lines. Three numbers you can check beat one number you can’t.

And one habit worth stealing from old traders: repeat the weight back in the shop’s own units. “To do tola chaar masha, theek?” It signals you did the conversion — and honest shops visibly relax when they hear it.

Frequently asked questions

How many grams is 1 tola of gold in Pakistan?

11.664 grams (the standard figure is 11.6638 g; jewellers round to 11.66). Some local markets use a 12.5-gram “market tola” — always confirm which one your jeweller uses.

How many masha are in one tola?

12 masha make one tola. Each masha is 0.972 grams.

How many ratti are in one masha?

8 ratti make one masha, so 96 ratti make one tola. One ratti is 0.1215 grams.

Is a tola the same in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh?

The standard tola (11.6638 g) is the same everywhere. But local market conventions differ — Pakistan has the 12.5 g market tola in some bazaars, and Bangladesh calls the same unit a “vori”. Always ask before buying.

What is a “pakki ratti” for gemstones?

Gemstones use a heavier ratti: one pakki ratti equals 1.5 sunari (goldsmith’s) ratti, or 182.25 mg — about 0.91 carat. Don’t mix it up with the gold ratti when buying stones.

How many tola are in 1 kilogram?

85.73 tola. So a 1-kg gold bar is about 85 tola and 8.8 masha.

The bottom line

Three numbers run Pakistan’s gold trade: 11.664 grams to a tola, 12 masha to a tola, 8 ratti to a masha. Learn them, learn the mental-math shortcuts, and ask which tola you’re being charged — and you’ll walk into any sarafa bazaar as the customer jewellers quote honestly to.

Into precise conversions? Try our free cups-to-grams converter — same obsession with exact numbers, for the kitchen. And for more plain-language explainers like this one, browse the blog.