Almost every white marble in the world is sold on a promise about how it will age. Makrana marble is the only one with a nearly four-hundred-year-old proof standing in Agra. The white facing of the Taj Mahal was quarried at Makrana in Rajasthan, and it is still white. This guide is about the stone itself: its grades, why it lasts, where it belongs, and what to settle with your supplier before a container leaves India.
The building that made the reputation
Makrana is a town in Nagaur district, Rajasthan, roughly 300 km from Udaipur. Its quarries have been worked for centuries. When Shah Jahan’s builders needed white marble for the Taj Mahal in the seventeenth century, they took it from here.
The Taj Mahal is not the only example. The Victoria Memorial in Kolkata is faced in the same stone, and Makrana marble appears in temples, palaces and memorials across the subcontinent. In 2019 the International Union of Geological Sciences recognised Makrana marble as a Global Heritage Stone Resource, a designation given to stones with a long documented record of use in significant buildings.
Heritage is a marketing story for most materials. Here it is test data. A stone that has stood through four centuries of monsoon, heat and pollution and has not crumbled or yellowed has told you something no laboratory report can.
Why Makrana marble lasts
Three properties do the work, and they are related.
- Very high calcium carbonate content. Makrana is an unusually pure calcitic marble. Purity is what gives it the clean white colour rather than a grey or yellow cast.
- High density and low porosity. Porosity means the tiny spaces inside a stone. Fewer spaces means less water gets in — and water is what carries the staining and the iron that turn white marble yellow. This is the single most important number for a white marble.
- A tight, interlocking crystal structure. This is what lets it be carved finely and take a deep polish, and it is why the inlay and screen work on historic Makrana buildings is as crisp as it is.
Compare that with a soft, porous white marble that drinks in every spill and starts to look tired within a few years, and the difference in whole-life terms is obvious — even where the first cost is not.
The grades of Makrana — and why the name matters
“Makrana marble” is not one stone. It is a family of varieties from different quarries in the same belt, and they differ in whiteness, grain and price. If your order says only “Makrana”, you have not specified anything.
- Albeta — the whitest and most sought after. Fine grained and very pure. The premium grade, used where nothing but a true white will do.
- Kumari — a clean white, slightly less pure than Albeta and more readily available in quantity. The usual choice for flooring and wall cladding at project scale.
- Doongri — a dense, hard white. Its tight structure makes it the carver’s grade, chosen for sculpture, temple work and detailed relief.
- Makrana Pink — a soft pink tone rather than white. Used where a warmer stone is wanted, often alongside the white grades in the same scheme.
Name the grade in your enquiry, your purchase order and your inspection agreement. A dispute over “this is not the white I expected” is almost always a dispute that started with an unnamed grade.
Grade availability moves with what the quarries are producing, so confirm what is currently held before you specify.
Where Makrana marble belongs
- Luxury flooring — lobbies, entrance halls, formal reception rooms. Large-format pieces with tight joints let the material read as a single surface.
- Wall cladding — interior feature walls, stair walls, bathroom walls. Its calm, near-uniform white makes a quiet backdrop rather than a busy one.
- Sculpture and carving — the traditional use, and the one the Doongri grade is chosen for.
- Temples and altars — a long tradition in India and in temple projects built for communities abroad.
- Monuments and memorials — where the stone has to hold an inscription and a colour for generations. Our monuments range covers this work.
One honest limitation. Makrana is a marble, not a granite, so it is not the right stone for a busy kitchen worktop or an external paved area in a harsh climate. For those, a granite is the correct specification — see our granite flooring and cladding guide.
Sizes, thicknesses and finishes
Makrana is supplied as slabs and as tiles. Marble tiles for flooring are commonly produced around 16 to 20 mm thick, while slabs and cut-to-size pieces are made to the project requirement. Because it is a natural stone worked from blocks, dimensions vary by production run.
On finishes:
- Polished — maximum whiteness and reflectivity, the traditional look for floors and cladding.
- Honed — a smooth matte surface. Calmer, and it hides small scratches and etch marks far better than a polish, which makes it the sensible choice for a floor that will be used hard.
- Brushed — a lightly textured matte finish, used where a softer, more tactile surface is wanted.
Confirm the sizes, thicknesses and finishes currently available before you specify against them.
Lead time and minimum order quantity depend on the grade, the quantity and the container mix. Send your sizes and we will confirm both.
Care: it is calcareous, and that matters
Marble is calcium carbonate, which means acid attacks it. This is the one thing every buyer of white marble needs to understand before installation, not after.
Vinegar, lemon juice, wine, many descalers and a good number of ordinary bathroom cleaners will dull a polished surface where they touch it. That dull patch is called etching. It is physical damage to the surface, not a stain sitting on top of it, so no amount of cleaning removes it — it has to be re-polished.
Three habits prevent nearly all of it. Use pH-neutral cleaners only. Wipe spills quickly rather than letting them sit. And use a good impregnating sealer where staining is a risk, reapplied on the manufacturer’s schedule. A honed finish is also more forgiving than a polished one, because there is no mirror surface to lose.
On yellowing: Makrana’s low porosity is a genuine advantage, but installation still matters. Yellowing in white marble is usually caused by trapped moisture, iron in the substrate or bedding mortar, or unsuitable cleaners — so use a white cement or a proper stone adhesive, and make sure the substrate is dry.
Freight: Rajasthan ships from the west coast
This catches buyers who have previously imported South Indian granite. Makrana sits in Rajasthan, in northern India. It does not ship from Chennai or Tuticorin — it sails from Mundra or Kandla in Gujarat, which are the natural ports for Rajasthan stone.
That is good news for buyers in Europe, the UK and the Gulf, because the west coast is the shorter run to those markets. If you are consolidating Makrana with a South Indian granite in one shipment, though, remember the two are loading from opposite coasts — that has to be planned, not assumed.
Marble is heavy. As with granite, a container reaches its weight limit before it runs out of space, so loading is a weight calculation. How the material is crated and protected for the voyage is covered in sea packing for natural stone.
Standards and duty by market
Buyers in the United States reference ASTM C503, the dimension-stone standard for marble. In the United Kingdom and the European Union, CE or UKCA marking with a Declaration of Performance is the norm for construction use. In the United Arab Emirates, ESMA conformity requirements apply to a range of building products — confirm the current scope with your importer.
On duty:
- United States — as of early 2026, Indian stone enters the US at approximately 18% under the US–India bilateral tariff deal, down from a 50% peak in 2025. Verify the live HTS rate before quoting.
- United Kingdom — the India–UK CETA entered into force on 15 July 2026, so Indian-origin worked stone enters the UK at 0% duty with a proof of origin.
- United Arab Emirates — under the India–UAE CEPA, in force since 2022, qualifying Indian stone enters at 0% or reduced duty against the 5% MFN rate when claimed with an eCoO.
The detail across all markets is in our guide to import duty on Indian stone in 2026, and if this is your first shipment start with how to import natural stone from India.
How the stone is checked before it ships
White marble is unforgiving. A crack, a grey patch or a shade difference that would pass unnoticed on a dark granite is immediately visible on a white floor.
Gemarix inspects at three stages — at the quarry block, after cutting, and again before packing — and photographs every container before the doors are sealed. On white marble we would add two things to any order: agree a control sample with a stated acceptable shade range before production, and require the pieces to be laid out and photographed together before packing so the match is documented rather than remembered. The process is set out on our quality control page.
Where Makrana sits among the other Indian whites
India produces a number of white marbles, and Makrana is the premium end rather than the whole story. Ambaji, Morwad, Banswara and others each have their own place and their own price. For the full picture, see our guide to Indian white marble varieties, grades and finishes.
If you are weighing Makrana against a Statuario or Calacatta, the honest difference is the look rather than the quality: Makrana is a calm near-uniform white, while the Italian marbles are chosen for bold grey veining. Our comparison of Indian marble and Italian marble works through that decision, and if you are considering coloured marble instead, our green marble guide covers that range.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Taj Mahal really made of Makrana marble? Yes — the white facing came from the Makrana quarries in Nagaur district, Rajasthan. The Victoria Memorial in Kolkata is faced in the same stone.
What are the grades of Makrana marble? Albeta is the whitest and most sought after. Kumari is a clean white commonly used for flooring and cladding. Doongri is dense and favoured for carving. Makrana Pink carries a soft pink tone. Always name the grade in the order.
Does Makrana marble turn yellow? It has a strong reputation for holding its colour, thanks to its purity and low porosity. Yellowing in white marble usually comes from trapped moisture, iron in the substrate or wrong cleaners, so installation and care still matter.
How is it different from Italian marble? Makrana is a dense, calcite-rich white with little dramatic veining. Italian marbles such as Statuario and Calacatta are chosen for bold grey veins. Different looks, both good stones.
How should it be cleaned? pH-neutral cleaners only. Acids etch marble, and etching is surface damage that cannot be cleaned off — it has to be re-polished. Wipe spills quickly and seal where staining is a risk.
Ask for the grade by name
The single most useful thing you can do when buying Makrana is to name the grade, agree a control sample, and see photographs of the actual material before it is packed. Tell us the grade, the sizes and the finish you need and we will quote against your real project — tell us what you need, or request samples in the grades you are considering. You can also view the stone on its Makrana white marble page or browse the full marble catalog.