Around 4.29 cr jewellery pieces hallmarked between 1 July and 30 November: Centre

Number of jewellers, who got themselves registered for hallmarking as on 30 November 2021, stood at 126,373 Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey today said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha. 

The number of pieces of jewellery that have been hallmarked since the implementation of mandatory hallmarking of gold ornaments (from 01 July 2021 - 30 November 2021) is 4.29 crore, the reply said. 

See Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:

Hallmarking had been made mandatory from 15 January 2021. However, in view of the pandemic situation, the date was extended to 1 June 2021.  

Thereafter, there were detailed stakeholders’ consultations with representatives from jewellery manufacturers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers, AHCs, consumer organisations etc.  

Taking the ground situation into account, hallmarking has been made mandatory from 23 June 2021 for 14, 18 and 22 carat of gold jewellery/artefacts in 256 districts of the country where there is at least one Assaying and Hallmarking Centre (AHC), a government release said. 

An advisory committee, which also included representatives of jewellers and AHCs, has been constituted by the Government to deal with the issues faced in the implementation of mandatory hallmarking, the release said.  

Some of the concerns addressed by the Government include: 

1. Jeweller registration has been made free and valid for lifetime.  
2. Jewellers having turnover less than Rs 40 lakhs have been exempted from mandatory hallmarking. 
3. Polki, jadaau and kundanjewellery have been exempted from mandatory hallmarking. 

Indian standard for Hallmarking was amended to provide for the hallmarking of 20, 23 and 24 carats of gold jewellery. The Indian Standard has also been amended to provide for hallmarking of mixed lot of jewellery. 

Hallmarking Unique ID (HUID) based system has been introduced to ensure greater transparency in the functioning of the gold jewellery industry and for providing credibility of hallmark to the consumers.  

The software has been made user-friendly and a Help Desk has been set up at BIS Headquarters and also at all BIS Branch Offices, to resolve the issues and problems of the jewellers and AHCs, the release claimed.