NEW DELHI, November 6: India is marking Dhanteras today, the first of the five days of Diwali, with Diwali itself falling on Sunday, November 8. It is traditionally one of the most popular days of the year to buy gold, silver and new utensils, and also Dhanvantari Jayanti, honouring the god of Ayurveda. This year the Ayush Ministry has asked families to treat health as the day’s first investment, while the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has set out how buyers can check that their jewellery is genuinely hallmarked.
Key highlights
- Dates: Dhanteras on Friday, November 6; Diwali (Deepavali) on Sunday, November 8, a closed holiday for central government offices.
- Check three marks on gold: the BIS logo, the purity mark (for example 22K916) and a six-digit HUID code.
- Scale: over 65 crore gold articles have received HUID numbers since mandatory hallmarking began in 2021, as of October 15, 2026.
- Silver: hallmarking is voluntary, but any hallmarked silver article must carry a HUID code since September 1, 2025.
- Health message: Ayush Minister Prataprao Jadhav urged families to adopt at least one new healthy habit this Dhanteras.
Before you buy gold: what to check
Gold is too soft to wear on its own, so jewellery is made from alloys, which makes it hard for buyers to judge purity. BIS hallmarking certifies purity against national standards. For gold, look for three marks: the BIS standard mark, the purity or fineness mark, and the Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID), a six-digit alphanumeric code given to each article. For silver, the BIS mark carries the word “SILVER”, followed by the fineness (for example 925) and the HUID. BIS says buyers can verify an article’s details digitally through its BIS CARE app.
| Caratage | Fineness (parts per thousand) |
|---|---|
| 24KS | 995 |
| 23K | 958 |
| 22K | 916 |
| 20K | 833 |
| 18K | 750 |
| 14K | 585 |
| 9K | 375 |
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Gold articles with HUID since 2021 (as of Oct 15, 2026) | Over 65 crore |
| BIS-registered jewellers | Up from 43,153 to 2,36,624 over the same period |
| Districts with mandatory gold hallmarking | 392 (256 when it began on June 23, 2021) |
| Silver articles hallmarked with HUID | Over 90 lakh |
| Silver fineness grades (IS 2112:2025) | 800, 835, 900, 925, 958, 970, 990, 999 |
Health as the other wealth
Union Ayush Minister Prataprao Jadhav said that while Dhanteras is associated with buying gold, silver and household items, material wealth “holds greater value when accompanied by good health”. He urged families to make preventive healthcare part of the festival: home-cooked and nutritious food, less junk food, regular physical activity and yoga, enough sleep, stress management and timely health check-ups, with special care for elderly family members, women and children. He recalled the Ayurvedic principle “Swasthasya Swasthya Rakshanam”, protecting the health of the healthy.
The traditions of the day
Families clean and decorate their homes, worship Lakshmi, Kubera and Dhanvantari, and light a lamp for Yama, the god of death, in the evening, a ritual known as Yama Deepdaan. Puja timings vary by city and local calendar, so families usually follow their local panchang. For how these customs grew over the centuries, read our History Desk report: History of Dhanteras.
Our calculation
- The number of BIS-registered jewellers has grown about 5.5 times since mandatory hallmarking began (from 43,153 to 2,36,624).
- 22K gold is 91.6% pure and 18K gold is 75% pure, so the purity mark directly tells you how much of the weight is gold.
What to watch
- Diwali celebrations on Sunday, November 8.
- Air quality in north Indian cities over the Diwali weekend.
A diya made of wheat flour lit on Dhanteras. Image: Akku09102004, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Photo source · Licence
Sources
- PIB Backgrounder: Bureau of Indian Standards hallmarking, November 5, 2026
- PIB (Ministry of Ayush): Prioritise health on Dhanteras and embrace a healthy lifestyle, November 4, 2026
- Department of Personnel and Training: list of holidays for 2026 (O.M. No. 12/2/2023-JCA, July 3, 2025)
The National Desk covers India's politics, governance, security and public-interest news. Stories are checked against at least two credible sources before publication.
