Nepal gold & silver price trends explained
Why the rate FENEGOSIDA posts each morning moves the way it does: the global spot-price link, the USD/NPR exchange rate, import duty and VAT, and seasonal demand around Dashain, Tihar and wedding season.
This is background reading on the mechanics, not a live price feed. Prices shown here are historical context as of 12 August 2026; for current live pricing, use our Gold Price Calculator.
Historical context, not a live feed
Everything on this page is historical context as of 12 August 2026, structural drivers and a couple of dated past snapshots, not today's rate. For current live pricing, use the Gold Price Calculator, where you enter FENEGOSIDA's rate for the day and get the value instantly.
Open the Gold Price Calculator →What actually moves the price
Four forces set the rate FENEGOSIDA publishes each morning, two global, one fiscal and one seasonal.
The global spot price
Nepal has no gold mine of its own, so almost all bullion is imported and priced off the international spot rate set on markets like the London Bullion Market. When the US-dollar gold price moves overnight, FENEGOSIDA's next daily quote in Kathmandu moves with it, there is no separate "Nepal price" floating independently of the world market.
The USD/NPR exchange rate
The international price is quoted in US dollars, so it has to be converted into rupees before a jeweller can post a per-tola rate. That conversion uses the exchange rate Nepal Rastra Bank publishes each day. Even on a day the dollar gold price doesn't move much, a weaker rupee against the dollar pushes the NPR price up, and a stronger rupee pulls it down, the exchange rate is its own independent driver, not just a rounding step.
Import duty and VAT
On top of the converted spot value, gold entering Nepal carries a government customs duty, a rate that itself has changed materially in past budgets, plus the same 13% VAT applied to most goods. A duty change announced in a national budget can shift the shelf price by thousands of rupees per tola overnight, independent of anything happening in the world market that day, which is why the duty rate belongs in this list as its own lever, not a footnote.
Local demand, festival and wedding season
Gold jewellery is a fixture of Nepali weddings and of Dashain and Tihar giving, so retail demand is seasonal, not flat through the year. When many buyers are in the market at once, ahead of the wedding months and the big autumn festivals, jewellers' asking prices tend to firm up faster on the way up and soften more slowly on the way down than pure spot-and-exchange-rate maths alone would predict.
The seasonal pattern
Demand is not flat through the year. These are qualitative patterns, not a forecast for any given date.
Wedding season (roughly Feb, Apr and Nov, families vary)
Gold ornaments are a standard part of a Nepali bride's send-off and a common wedding gift more broadly, so household buying concentrates in the months families traditionally marry, adding real demand pressure on top of whatever the global price and exchange rate are doing that week.
Dashain and Tihar
Nepal's two biggest festivals fall in the same autumn window (Ashwin-Kartik in the Bikram Sambat calendar) and both carry a tradition of gifting or buying gold and silver, so jewellers typically see a sustained demand bump across the festival stretch rather than a single-day spike.
Quieter months
Outside festival and wedding clusters, retail buying is closer to routine investment and small-ornament purchases, so day-to-day price movement tracks the global spot price and the exchange rate more cleanly, with less of a local-demand premium layered on top.
Dated snapshots, not today's price
Each figure below is tied to the date it was reported. Gold has moved a great deal since, and will keep moving, so treat these as illustrations of the trend, not a current rate.
Fine gold (24K, hallmark) traded above Rs 200,000 per tola for the first time, a level the Kathmandu Post reported was already adding materially to the cost of a typical Nepali wedding's gold purchases.
The Kathmandu Post reported gold demand climbing further even as the wider economy stalled, describing buyers turning to gold as a store of value during the Dashain-Tihar festival window.
Gold and silver prices, answered
Why do gold prices in Nepal differ from the international price?+
Nepal's daily rate, published by FENEGOSIDA, starts from the international spot price (set on markets like the London Bullion Market) but then converts it into rupees at Nepal Rastra Bank's USD/NPR exchange rate and adds government import duty and 13% VAT. Those extra layers, currency conversion, duty and tax, are why the Nepal price is never identical to the raw dollar spot price, even on a day the world price barely moves.
Why do gold prices rise during Dashain and wedding season?+
Gold jewellery is a standard part of Nepali weddings and of Dashain and Tihar giving, so retail demand concentrates in the wedding months and the autumn festival window. When many buyers are in the market at once, jewellers' asking prices tend to firm up faster than the global spot price and exchange rate alone would explain, a seasonal demand premium layered on top of the structural price.
How is the exchange rate connected to Nepal's gold price?+
The international gold price is quoted in US dollars, so it has to be converted into rupees before a per-tola rate can be posted in Nepal. That conversion uses the exchange rate Nepal Rastra Bank publishes daily. A weaker rupee against the dollar pushes the NPR gold price up even if the dollar gold price hasn't moved, and a stronger rupee pulls it down, the exchange rate is an independent driver of the local price, not just a unit conversion.
Where can I check today's gold price?+
This page is historical context and explains what drives the price, it does not quote today's rate. For the current per-tola figure, use our Gold Price Calculator, enter FENEGOSIDA's rate for the day and it works out the value for your weight and purity instantly.
Sources & data note
This page explains the structural forces behind Nepal's gold and silver prices, the global spot link, the USD/NPR exchange rate, import duty and VAT, and seasonal demand, it does not quote a current rupee rate. The two dated figures above are historical snapshots, each tied to the date it was reported, not today's price. Import duty rates in particular have changed across recent budgets and can change again, so treat the duty description here as illustrative rather than a live rate. For the rupee figure to use today, enter FENEGOSIDA's current per-tola rate into the Gold Price Calculator.
- Daily gold & silver rates (per tola): official daily sourceFederation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association (FENEGOSIDA) ↗
- Gold past Rs 200,000 a tola, adding to Nepalis' wedding costsThe Kathmandu Post ↗
- Gold fever grips Nepal as economy stalls and fears mountThe Kathmandu Post ↗
- Value Added Tax Act, 2052: VAT rate 13%Inland Revenue Department (IRD), Government of Nepal ↗