Gold Traders Supports Govt's Decision to Make Hallmarking Mandatory

C Krishniah Chetty Group of Jewellers appreciated the Centre's decision to make hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts mandatory in a phased manner.

"The mandatory hallmarking will protect consumers against lower caratage and ensure that they do not get cheated while buying gold ornaments," said C Vinod Hayagriv, Managing Director of the company.

"Hallmarked articles will ascertain the year in which they were manufactured because provenance is an important part of jewellery which lasts for generations," he said.

Gold hallmarking is a purity certification of the precious metal and has been voluntary in nature so far. From now on, it will be implemented initially in 256 districts of the country.

The government has exempted jewellers with annual turnover of up to Rs 40 lakh from mandatory hallmarking.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has been running a hallmarking scheme for gold jewellery since April 2000. Nearly 40 per cent of gold jewellery is being hallmarked currently.

The government says that hallmarking of jewellery and artefacts is required to enhance the credibility of gold jewellery and customer satisfaction through third party assurance for the marked purity and fineness of gold.

"Anyone doing malpractice should be held responsible. However, officers should be made aware that over-stretching their jurisdiction or in any way intimidating a manufacturer will not be in the interest of business," said Hayagriv.

"There must be an ease of doing business and a hallmarking practice should not become a threatening act which will destroy the craft and art of India," he said.

Hayagriv was part of the Kathmandu Convention in 1995 where it was decided to suggest the right hallmarking strategy for India. The convention resolved that hallmarking should be without a negative tolerance on the purities tested.