Strota Research

We read 65 jeweller gold schemes. On ₹5,000 a month, they pay 0% to 31.2% a year

By Strota Newsroom · 2026-10-26 · How Strota reports

goldgold schemesjewelleryTanishqCaratLanepersonal finance

Almost every big jeweller runs a monthly gold plan. We modelled 30 of them on their own published terms. The headline rewards are real, but they hang on what you buy, the making charge, and the gold price.

Put ₹5,000 a month into a jeweller's gold scheme and the reward can look like a superb yearly return. Across the plans we could model, it works out to anything from nothing to 31.2% a year. That top figure belongs to CaratLane's Treasure Chest, and only when the money buys studded jewellery. The number on any brochure depends on what you buy, the making charge, and what gold does meanwhile.

We started with 65 plans from 20 jeweller businesses. Each set of terms was read from the jeweller's own website, terms page or brochure. Only 30 of those plans, from 13 businesses, were monthly plans with enough published detail to model. The other 35 could not be compared fairly. Some were one-off advances or rate locks. Others were diamond plans, flexible app plans or old legacy pages. The rest never said what the customer gets back.

Which jeweller gold scheme pays the most?

CaratLane's Treasure Chest plans top our table at 31.2% a year on studded jewellery. That means pieces set with diamonds or stones. The plan takes 9 monthly payments, not 10 or 11 as many others do. So on ₹5,000 a month you pay ₹45,000 in total.

For that ₹45,000 you can pick up ₹50,000 of studded jewellery. Now switch to plain gold jewellery. The same payments buy ₹46,500 of jewellery, which works out to just 8.9% a year. The winner turns weak simply because of what lands in the shopping bag.

How does Tanishq Golden Harvest compare?

Tanishq Golden Harvest, the best-known plan, takes 10 payments. You pay ₹50,000 in total, and about a year after you begin you can take home jewellery worth ₹53,750. Spread over the months you paid in, that is like earning 12.1% a year. A bank recurring deposit would need to pay 11.6% to keep pace. So on paper the scheme beats most bank RDs. But the reward arrives only as Tanishq jewellery, never as cash in your account.

Why does the making charge decide the answer?

Many plans pay their reward as a discount on making charges. That is the fee a jeweller adds for turning raw gold into a finished piece. Lalithaa Golden Gain, GRT Golden Eleven Flexi and Khazana Golden Flexi all work this way. Pay ₹55,000 into any of them and you can buy ₹61,600 of jewellery.

That result assumes a piece with a 12% making charge, which we used as an example. On that piece, Lalithaa's plan works out to 25.7% a year. GRT and Khazana each come to 25.0% a year. TBZ's Golden Benefit Plan, which takes ₹50,000, reaches 27.6% a year. All four sit well above Tanishq's 12.1%. Lalithaa's rate is a touch higher than GRT's and Khazana's on the same rupees because its plan lets you buy a few days sooner.

The picture changes as the fee falls. TBZ's Golden Benefit Plan drops from 27.6% to 13.4% a year when the making charge is 6%. Intricate wedding jewellery tends to carry a high fee, so the discount counts for a lot there. A gold coin or plain chain with a 0% making charge gets nothing extra, and the plan pays 0.0%.

Do gram-based plans carry a gold price risk?

Some plans count your payments in grams of gold rather than rupees. That quietly adds a bet on the gold price. Our main figures hold gold flat. Take Lalithaa Golden Gain: if gold ends 10% lower, the ₹61,600 shrinks to ₹58,226.

If gold instead ends 10% higher, the same Lalithaa plan buys ₹64,873. GRT Golden Eleven Flexi and Khazana's weight-based Golden Flexi swing almost identically. Bhima's Tamil Nadu Future Gold Scheme moves a touch more. CaratLane's gram version, Treasure Chest Edge, slides from ₹50,000 to ₹47,525 if gold falls.

How we checked: every set of terms came from the jeweller's own published pages. Plans whose terms are not online were left out, not guessed at. Each modelled plan received ₹5,000 at the start of every month. The jewellery was bought on the first day the plan allows.

The limits matter. Terms are as published on 26 October 2026, and jewellers change them. Some pages contradict themselves, so we used the main or more cautious term. GST and each shop's own gold rate are not included. Buying later than the first allowed day lowers the yearly figure. The honest summary: 24 of the 30 plans reach double digits a year. But that holds only as jewellery from that one shop, and only on the right kind of piece.

Frequently asked questions

How much does the Tanishq Golden Harvest scheme pay?

On ₹5,000 a month you pay ₹50,000 and can buy jewellery worth ₹53,750. That works out to 12.1% a year, received only as Tanishq jewellery.

Do jeweller gold schemes beat a bank recurring deposit?

Many do on paper. A bank recurring deposit would need 11.6% a year to match Tanishq's plan. But the scheme's reward comes only as jewellery from that jeweller, not as cash.

Does the making charge change a gold scheme's return?

Yes, hugely. When the reward is a discount on the making fee, an ornate necklace gets the full benefit. A gold coin or a plain chain with no making charge gets none.

Sources and method

This note is based on Strota's own backtest research. Historical results are not forecasts or investment advice; see the editorial standards for methodology and limitations.