Karigar Job-Work Tracking for Jewellery Workshops: Issue, Receive, Reconcile
In most jewellery workshops, the biggest number nobody can see clearly is the metal sitting with karigars. Gold and silver go out for casting, filing, setting or polishing, and come back days later as a different shape, at a different weight, sometimes in parts. The record of it lives in a bound register, a few WhatsApp photos and the memory of the person at the issue counter.
That works when there are four karigars and one owner who checks everything. It stops working when there are twenty, spread across the workshop and outside units, with orders of different purities running at once. Month-end reconciliation turns into an argument, and small, repeated differences quietly become real money.
This guide covers what good karigar job-work tracking looks like, what to record at each step, and when a register, Excel or a proper system is the right tool.
Why karigar job-work is hard to track
Job-work in jewellery is different from job-work in most industries, for a few reasons:
- Weight is the unit, not quantity. You don't issue "ten pieces"; you issue 152.40 g of 22K gold. What comes back must be checked against that weight.
- Purity changes the value. 100 g of 18K is not 100 g of 22K. Without converting to fine weight (pure metal equivalent), totals across purities mean nothing.
- Material changes form. Bar becomes wire, wire becomes findings, findings become a piece. Each step has some legitimate loss — dust, filings, polish.
- Work comes back in parts. A karigar may return six pieces today, four next week and the scrap at month-end.
- Stones travel too. For setters, stones are issued by count and carat weight, and every one must come back set, unused or reported broken.
When a system can't handle these, people keep a "side register" — and the side register becomes the real one.
The cycle every workshop should record
1. Issue: record it once, properly
Each issue should capture the karigar, the process (casting, filigree, setting, polishing), metal type, purity, gross weight, and the order or design it is for. Converting to fine weight at the moment of issue saves a lot of confusion later. A due date matters as much as the weight — it is what tells you which job is late.
Stones need their own lines: type, size, quality, count and carat weight. For high-value stones, a lot or packet number makes tracing simple.
2. Work in process: know what is out, right now
The single most useful screen in a workshop is a live list of what is with whom: karigar, weight, purity, order and days outstanding. It answers the questions owners ask every day — "Is the bridal order with the setter yet?" "Who is holding the most metal?" — without a phone call.
3. Receipt: allow it to come back in pieces
Real receipts are messy. A good process lets the counter record finished pieces, partly finished work, scrap and dust separately, each with its own weight and purity, and keeps the job open until everything is accounted for.
4. Reconciliation: make loss a number, not an argument
This is where most money leaks. Every process has some genuine loss, and every workshop agrees its own allowance with its karigars, usually as a percentage that differs by process and design. We don't recommend borrowing someone else's figure; use your own history and agreements.
What matters is that the comparison is automatic: issued fine weight, received fine weight, the allowance for that process, and the difference. Anything outside the allowance gets flagged for approval or recovery the same day, not discovered at month-end.
5. Settlement: close the loop
Once a job is reconciled, making charges can be calculated by weight, piece or design, and the karigar's metal and money balance updated. A monthly statement each karigar can read builds trust on both sides.
Register, Excel or software?
Works while you are small
- No cost and nothing new to learn
- Fine for a handful of karigars and one purity
- Fine-weight maths done by hand, error-prone
- No live view of what is out and overdue
- Loss found at month-end, too late to question
- Depends on one person who knows the book
Scales with karigars and orders
- Fine weight calculated at every issue and receipt
- Live "who has what" list with due dates
- Loss checked against your own allowances, per process
- Linked to orders, stones and billing
- Needs a one-time setup and team training
- Only worth it once volume is real
A rough rule: if you have more than a few karigars, work in more than one purity, or regularly can't say where a specific order is, a register is costing you more than it saves.
GST and documentation: don't skip the paperwork
When metal goes to an outside karigar or unit, it usually moves under a job-work delivery challan, and job-work movements have their own GST reporting (the ITC-04 return). The exact rules depend on your registration and turnover, so confirm the details with your CA. A good tracking system makes this easy, because the challans and the issue records are the same data.
Where pieces are hallmarked, recording the HUID against the finished piece at receipt keeps your stock and your hallmarking records in step.
How we approach this at Scale & Story
We don't start with software. We sit at the issue counter, follow a real week of jobs, and note every register, sheet and chat used. Then we build the karigar module around your processes, your purities and your allowances — and connect it to what you already use, often Tally for accounts.
For most jewellery manufacturers, karigar tracking is the first module to build, because it is where the most value is hidden. Once it is running, it extends naturally to stock, orders and stores, as we describe in our guide to ERP for jewellery manufacturers. You can see the full picture in our case study for a jewellery manufacturer and retailer, or read how we build these systems on our custom ERP development page.
The short version: record every issue and receipt by fine weight, keep a live list of what is with whom, and check loss against your own allowances the same day. Do that, and month-end stops being an argument.
Frequently asked questions
What is karigar job-work in jewellery?
It is work done by artisans (karigars), inside the workshop or at outside units, on metal and stones issued to them — casting, filigree, setting, polishing and so on. The workshop issues material by weight and receives finished or part-finished work back by weight.
Why track fine weight instead of gross weight?
Because metal of different purities can't be added up directly. Fine weight converts everything to its pure-metal equivalent, so issues, receipts and loss can be compared accurately across 22K, 18K and other purities.
How much loss (wastage) is normal for karigars?
It depends on the process, the design and what you have agreed with each karigar, so there is no single correct number. Use your own past records to set allowances per process, then let the system flag anything outside them.
Can we keep Tally and still track karigars properly?
Yes. Many workshops keep Tally for accounts and GST, and run karigar tracking in a separate operational system that sends the right entries to Tally. You don't have to replace what already works.
When is it time to move off a register?
When you have more than a few karigars, work in multiple purities, or can't quickly answer "where is this order and who has it?" That is usually the point where errors and lost metal cost more than a system would.
If you run a jewellery workshop in Jaipur or anywhere in India, our page for jewellery manufacturers and exporters shows how we help — from workshop systems to selling abroad.
Scale & Story
Scale & Story is a Jaipur-based business transformation agency. 13+ years and 100+ brands across strategy, marketing, e-commerce and technology. Work with us or follow us on LinkedIn.
