Zakat calculator for South Asia
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BarakahFlow does not issue fatwa, and nothing on this page is financial, tax or legal advice. These pages set out scholarly positions and name where each one comes from. Nisab values shown here are derived from international spot prices and are indicative only. Where your local Zakat authority publishes its own figure, theirs is the one that governs. For a binding ruling on your own circumstances, speak to a qualified scholar. See our Terms of Service.
South Asia calculates nisab in tolas, not grams, and the tola conversion gives slightly heavier thresholds than the international standard. Combined with the Hanafi rules that predominate across Pakistan, India and Bangladesh — silver threshold, jewellery counted — this region’s numbers differ from the global default in two ways at once.
| Weight convention | Classical Tola convention (87.48 g gold, 612.36 g silver) |
|---|---|
| Operative threshold | Silver |
| Follows the positions of | Classical Hanafi · Darul Uloom Deoband · Jamia Binoria |
| Currencies | Pakistani rupee (PKR); Indian rupee (INR); Bangladeshi taka (BDT) |
The classical Tola convention puts nisab at 7.5 tola of gold (87.48 grams) and 52.5 tola of silver (612.36 grams), a tola being 11.664 grams. These are the figures used in Pakistan’s official annual nisab notifications and by the major South Asian darul iftas. They run about 2.8% heavier than the AAOIFI conversion.
The threshold, in PKR
Nisab is a weight of metal, so its value in your currency moves with the market. The figures below are refreshed from live international spot prices when the page loads.
Gram weights are fixed and are stated above. The currency values are indicative: they are rendered into the page as static figures and upgraded to live spot prices when the price feed responds.
Why the tola figure is different, and whether it matters
The prophetic weights were specified in dirhams and dinars, and converting those into modern units can be done more than one way. The AAOIFI conversion gives 85 grams of gold and 595 of silver. The classical tola conversion used across South Asia gives 87.48 and 612.36.
The gap is about 2.8%. On a threshold that is immaterial — it will rarely be the thing that decides whether you are liable. On a large holding it is not immaterial at all, and using the wrong convention will put your figure out by the same proportion.
BarakahFlow supports both and defaults South Asian users to the tola convention.
The Hanafi rules that come with it
Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are overwhelmingly Hanafi, and two Hanafi positions change the arithmetic substantially.
First, the threshold is set by silver, which is the lower figure by a wide margin. Second, gold jewellery is counted whether it is worn or not — which in households where gold is a primary form of family savings is usually the largest single line in the calculation.
A calculator that exempts worn jewellery is giving you the majority answer, not the Hanafi one. If you follow Deoband, Binoria or any mainstream South Asian darul ifta, that is the wrong answer for you.
Pakistan’s statutory deduction is not your Zakat calculation
Under the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance, Zakat is deducted at source on 1 Ramadan from savings and PLS accounts meeting the notified threshold. The Administrator General Zakat notifies that threshold annually and it is issued to the State Bank; for 1446–1447 AH it was set at PKR 503,529.
That deduction covers a narrow band of assets and is not a complete assessment of what you owe. Current accounts sit outside it, a CZ-50 declaration opts a holder out of it entirely, and gold, cash held elsewhere, business stock and receivables are all beyond its reach.
Treat anything deducted at source as a payment on account rather than the finished calculation.
A worked example in Pakistani rupees
- Cash and bank balances
- PKR 1,200,000
- Gold jewellery, 3 tola at 22 karat, worn — counted under Hanafi
- PKR 1,373,000
- Less: near-term debts due within the year
- − PKR 200,000
- Zakatable base
- PKR 2,373,000
- Zakat due at 2.5%
- PKR 59,325
The silver threshold on the tola convention is roughly PKR 408,518, so this household is well above it. Had the jewellery been exempted on the majority position, the base would have been PKR 1,000,000 and the bill PKR 25,000 — well under half. The jewellery rule is the whole story in South Asian households.
South Asia Zakat, commonly asked
What is the nisab in Pakistani rupees?
There are two figures and they are not the same thing. The official one, notified by the Administrator General Zakat for the Zakat year 1446–1447 AH, is PKR 503,529. That is the figure that governs the statutory deduction from bank accounts, and it is fixed for the year once notified.
The other is the market figure: 52.5 tola of silver, 612.36 grams, priced at today’s rate. Derived from international spot prices around the time of writing that is roughly PKR 408,518, and it moves daily. The gold threshold of 7.5 tola, 87.48 grams, is roughly PKR 3,744,492.
Where the two differ, the notified figure governs the bank deduction and the market figure is the one to use when working out what you personally owe. Anything shown on this page is indicative; check the current notification before you rely on it.
How many tola is nisab?
Seven and a half tola of gold, or fifty-two and a half tola of silver. A tola is 11.664 grams, which puts these at 87.48 and 612.36 grams respectively.
Under the Hanafi school, which predominates across South Asia, the silver figure is the one that applies where you hold a mixture of assets.
Is my wife’s gold jewellery zakatable in India and Pakistan?
Under the Hanafi school, yes — worn or not. This is the settled position of the South Asian darul iftas and it is the single biggest difference between a Hanafi calculation and the majority one.
Only the gold content counts. Stones, settings and alloy are excluded, and 22 karat is valued at 22 karat rather than at the 24 karat price. On whose obligation it is, the schools treat Zakat as falling on each owner for their own wealth, so a wife’s gold is generally accounted for as hers, though a husband may discharge it on her behalf with her agreement.
Does the Zakat deducted from my Pakistani bank account cover my obligation?
Almost certainly not. Under the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance the deduction is taken on 1 Ramadan from savings and PLS accounts whose balance meets the notified nisab. Current accounts are outside it, and a CZ-50 declaration allows a holder to opt out of deduction at source.
Two details people often get wrong: the deduction is taken on the whole eligible balance, not only the part above nisab; and it reaches only those accounts. Gold, cash held elsewhere, business inventory, receivables and investments are untouched by it.
So treat anything deducted at source as a payment on account rather than a finished calculation, and work out the rest. If you have opted out with a CZ-50, the entire obligation is yours to discharge.
Which convention should I use if I live abroad but my family is in Pakistan?
Follow the school and convention you actually follow, not the one where the money happens to sit. If you are Hanafi and use the tola convention, that remains correct whether your account is in Karachi or Manchester.
Convert all your holdings into a single currency to test against nisab. BarakahFlow supports twenty currencies and will hold your convention setting steady while you switch the display currency.
Compare with another method
The same holdings produce different figures under different schools and conventions. Seeing the comparison is the point.
Get the number that actually applies to you.
BarakahFlow applies your school, policy choices, region, currency and Hawl; itemizes cash, metals, shares, pensions, business inventory, receivables, property income, coins, stablecoins, tokens and NFTs; separates short- and long-term debts; and shows an auditable calculation record.
BarakahFlow states scholarly positions and attributes them. It does not issue fatwa. For a binding ruling on your own circumstances, speak to a qualified scholar.
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