Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Railways and Commerce & Industry reviews the progress made in the implementation of mandatory Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery in India
Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery is set to begin from 15th June 2021. In view of Covid, the Government accepted the request of stakeholders to give jewelers some more time to get prepared for implementation and resolve issues. Earlier it was expected to be implemented from 1st June 2021.
A committee was formed to ensure proper coordination and resolve the implementation issues. Pramod Tewari DG (BIS) would be the convener of the Committee. Additional Secretary, Smt. Nidhi Khare, Department of Consumer Affairs, and representatives of Jewellers Associations, trade, hallmarking bodies, etc. are going to Constitute the committee.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Piyush Goyal said that India must have the world’s best standards in Gold Jewellery. He said that Customers must get Hallmark-certified Gold at Earliest all across the country without any further delay.
Shri Goyal was reviewing progress made in the implementation of mandatory Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery in India at a webinar and conference organized by the Bureau of Indian Standards, Department of Consumer Affairs, GOI. The meeting was attended by various associations of Bullion trade, Hallmarking centers, Jewellers from across the country, trade and export bodies of Gold business besides officials of the Department of Consumer Affairs and BIS.
Under Hallmarking scheme of the Bureau of Indian Standards, Jewellers are registered for selling hallmarked jewelry and recognize testing and Hallmarking centers. BIS (Hallmarking) Regulations, were implemented w.e.f. 14.06.2018. Hallmarking will enable Consumers/Jewellery buyers to make the right choice and save them from any unnecessary confusion while buying gold. At present, only 30% of Indian Gold Jewellery is hallmarked.
Shri Goyal said that constructive suggestions will be incorporated and teething issues in implementation would be resolved.
Earlier, Quality control orders for mandatory hallmarking of Gold Jewellery/artifacts were issued by the Government on 15thJan 2020, but the last date was extended to 1st June 2021 to clear old stock of non-hallmarked jewelry.
The Hallmarking of jewelry/artifacts is required to enhance the credibility of gold Jewelry and Customer satisfaction through third-party assurance for the marked purity/fineness of gold, consumer protection. This step will also help to develop India as a leading gold market center in the World.
It is to be noted that there has been a 25% increase in A&H centers in the last five years. The number of A&H centers has increased from 454 to 945 in the last five years. At present 940 Assaying and Hallmarking centers are operative. Out of this 84 AHCs have been set up under Govt. subsidy scheme in various Districts.
Presently A&H Centre’s can hallmark 1500 articles in a day, the estimated hallmarking capacity of A&H Centre’s per year are 14 crore articles (Assuming 500 articles per shift &300 working days.
According to World Gold Council,India has around 4 lakh jewellers, out of this only 35879 have been BIS certified.
