Tola
Also: Tolā, ভরি (Bhari)
The tola is a traditional South Asian unit of weight for gold and silver, equal to exactly 11.6638 grams and widespread above all in India, Pakistan and the Gulf markets.
The tola (Hindi: तोला) is an ancient unit of weight of the Indian subcontinent, used in the gold trade for centuries. Its weight of exactly 11.6638 grams originally derives from the weight of the silver rupee, standardised under the Mughal Empire. Today the tola is encountered above all in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and on the gold markets of the Arabian Peninsula — especially in Dubai and Bahrain.
Origin and historical significance
The word "tola" comes from Sanskrit (tula = scales). Under the British-Indian system of measures, the tola was defined as the legal unit for precious metals and corresponded to the weight of a silver rupee. This linking of currency and weight is typical of pre-modern coinage systems and explains why the unit has remained alive in the jewellery and bar trade to this day.
Conversion to common units
1 tola = 11.6638 g = 180 grain = 0.375 troy ounces
1 troy ounce = 2.6667 tola
10 tola = 116.638 g ≈ 3.75 troy ounces
The unit converter automatically works out the current gold price per tola.
Tola bars on the world market
Tola bars are traded in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 100 tola. The 10-tola bar (approx. 116.6 g) is the most important format in the Gulf wholesale trade and is regarded there as a regionally established market standard — but it is not an LBMA Good Delivery bar (which would require a minimum weight of around 350 troy ounces). The bars usually carry a fineness of 999 or 995 (24 carat / fine gold).
| Denomination | Grams | Troy ounces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 tola | 11.66 g | 0.375 ozt |
| 5 tola | 58.32 g | 1.875 ozt |
| 10 tola | 116.64 g | 3.750 ozt |
| 100 tola | 1,166.38 g | 37.50 ozt |
Distinction from other units
The tola is not to be confused with the East Asian tael, which weighs between roughly 37.4 g (Hong Kong) and 50 g (China) depending on the region. The troy ounce (31.1035 g) and the grain (0.0648 g) also belong to the same troy system, but are different reference sizes. The melt value calculator supports all common weight units, including the tola.
In brief
The tola, at 11.6638 g, is a firmly defined, historically grown unit that remains an integral part of the gold trade on the Indian subcontinent and in the Gulf states. Anyone buying or valuing bars or jewellery from these regions should be confident in converting to grams and troy ounces.