Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery to Pushed Back to 15th June from 1 June

· In view of Covid, Centre Accepts the request of Stakeholders to give Jewellers more time to get Prepared for Implementation and Resolve Issues

· Committee Formed to Resolve Implementation Issues and Ensure Roll Out by 15^th June

· Customers must get Hallmark certified Gold at earliest all across the country without any further delay- Piyush Goyal

· India must have the World's Best Standards in Gold Jewellery

Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery is set to begin from 15thJune 2021. In view of Covid, Government accepted the request of stakeholders to give jewellers some more time to get prepared for implementation and resolve issues. Earlier it was expected to be implemented from 1^st June 2021.

A committee was formed to ensure proper coordination and resolve the implementation issues. Pramod Tewari DG (BIS) would be the convener of 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, Mr. 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.

Mr. Goyal was reviewing progress made in the implementation of mandatory Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery in India at a webinar and conference organized by 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 Department of Consumer Affairs and BIS.

Under Hallmarking scheme of Bureau of Indian Standards, Jewellers are registered for selling hallmarked jewellery and recognise testing and Hallmarking centres. BIS (Hallmarking) Regulations, were implemented w.e.f. 14.06.2018. Hallmarking will enable Consumers/Jewellery buyers to make a right choice and save them from any unnecessary confusion while buying gold. At present, only 30% of Indian Gold Jewellery is hallmarked.

Mr. Goyal said that constructive suggestions will be incorporated and teething issues in implementation would be resolved.

Earlier, Quality control order for mandatory hallmarking of Gold Jewellery/artefacts were issued by the Government on 15thJan 2020, but the last date was extended to 1stJune 2021 to clear old stock of non-hallmarked jewellery.

The Hallmarking of jewellery/artefacts is required to enhance the credibility of gold Jewellry 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 25% increase in A&H centers in the last five years. The number of A&H centers have 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 setup 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.