Beginning today, June 16th, it is mandatory to hallmark gold jewellery, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said in its statement released on June 15th. The move intends to ensure a uniform standard rate for all customers along with the guarantee of the yellow metal’s purity.
To give ample time for the dealers to abide by the new rule, the plan will be implemented in 256 districts first in a phased process.
As per the press release, the voluntary purity certification method will now become a compulsion after which, gold can be resold at standard rates as all gold items will be valued equally due to the hallmark. The common man will be able to buy purity guaranteed gold while being protected from cheating scandals as well.
Gold of additional carats- 20, 23, 24- will also be allowed for hallmarking. Jewellers will now have to sell hallmarked jewellery, even if a buyer wants a 23-carat gold ornament.
As per a government release, only about 30-40 per cent of gold jewellery used to be hallmarked before. This new rule is required “to enhance the credibility of gold jewellery, customer satisfaction and consumer protection,” it said.
Earlier, Jewellers were given a deadline of January 2021, to abide by the rules. However, they requested extra time owing to the pandemic.
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On Tuesday, Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted, “Continuing our government’s endeavour for better protection and satisfaction of customers, mandatory hallmarking in 256 districts will be implemented from June 16. No penalty will be imposed till August 2021.”
Consumer Affairs Secretary Leena Nandan added to Mr Goyal’s statement that there will be a phased manner implementation of the rule in districts, which has Assaying marking centres. During the meeting held to discuss the pointers, the industry issues were heard and solved with intense explanation, she said.
The BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) had a hallmarking offer for gold jewellery in place since the year 2000. Out of the 4 lakh jewellers in India, only 35,879 are BIS certified. The nation imports 700-800 tonnes of gold every year due to its demand, according to the World Gold Council.
Reacting to the latest rule, Executive Director of Kalyan Jewellers, Ramesh Kalyanaraman, said, “Mandatory hallmarking will standardize the purity of gold jewellery and take the industry a long way towards being more structured as well as further push the ongoing shift of business and customers from the unorganized to the organized jewellery segment. More importantly, the new regulatory framework will ensure that customers get a fair value for their new jewellery purchases as well as their exchanged or collateralized old gold.
What is exempted from gold hallmarking?
- Jewellers with an annual turnover of upto Rs 40 lakhs
- Gold used in watches, fountain pens and kundan, polki and jadau jewellery
- Dealers who export and reimport gold jewellery as per the Trade Police of Govt of India
- Jewellery for international exhibitions
- Jewellery meant for government-approved Business-to-Business (B2B) domestic exhibitions
What are the charges of gold hallmarking?
According to the information given on the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) website, Rs. 35 per article will be levied on BIS licensed jewellers as hallmarking charges for gold jewellery or artefacts to be given to BIS recognised Assaying and Hallmarking Centres. Another Rs. 200 will be charged as the minimum price for a consignment, excluding service tax and other charges.
What about the old gold jewellery without a hallmark?
As per the government, jewellers are allowed to buy back old gold jewellery that does not possess a hallmark from consumers. Alternatively, customers can get their old jewellery hallmarked as it is or after it is melted and crafted into a new ornament.
