Mandatory Gold Hallmarking from Tomorrow: What experts say about new law related to yellow metal

As government makes mandatory hallmarking for Gold, a high-level meeting has been called by the union minister (name) to discuss the road ahead for the jewellers to understand the consumer sentiments.  

In this regard, Zee Business spoke to Gems and Jewellers Council Vice-Chairman Sayam Mehra and Hallmark Association President Uday Shinde to understand the agenda of the meeting on Tuesday and what all demands each stakeholder has ahead of the implementation of the new law regarding Gold. 

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Mehra said, Implementation of hallmark would certainly be implemented, however, today’s meeting has been called to have questions and answers on the hallmark infrastructure, responsibilities related to it and about UID (digitalisation of Gold). 

The meeting would undertake the questions that how laws be tweaked and relaxation be given to jewellers, Mehra said, adding further that hallmarking should only happen at the current functional centres and should be made active phase-wise in other centres.  

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हॉलमार्किंग पर आज क्या होने वाला है?

हॉलमार्किंग पर अहम खबर!

अब क्या होंगे नए नियम?#CommodityLIVE #Gold #Hallmarking https://t.co/t3pPQvuR5n

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The vice-chairman said, “We are ready to follow the government norms but just that jewellers are likely to face some difficulties post its implementation and need to be found a way out for the same.”  

On the other hand, Shinde said, the association has requested the government to increase infrastructure with an offsite medium, perhaps, the ministry may give permission for the same to cover all districts. 

He added, the association would maximum take three months to cover all the districts through offsite mode, and may be asked for a subsidy regarding this so wherever the business is less it will survive. 

Contrary to this, Mehra said, “It will take not less than six months to cover all districts and the risk to travel with jewellery for over 50 kilometres is another.”  

He added, so far 35,000 jewellers have been registered for hallmark, over 1 lakh jewellers will be registered in the coming months and 1.5 lakh are registered under goods and services tax, and the council would be seeking a breather to understand the law before the implementation of norms.  

On the fine and penalty, Hallmark Association President said, “We will be highlighting this part in the meeting and even the Supreme Court has asked not to take any stringent action on jewellers.” 

Shinde added, “There are four identification marks to check if the Gold is hallmarked: BIS, purest form, label, certified centre, jewellers mark, and post UID, there will be only one identification purest form label and other digital code, which will be a mixture of hallmark centre and manufacturer name.” 

Countering to Shinde, GJC VP said, the manufacturers' name will break the harmony within the jewellers, as no retailers want to know where the Gold has been manufactured.” He requested, the hallmark price should not be increased from the current price of Rs 35 per 10 gram 

Mehra also confirmed that the jewellers would hardly charge extra for hallmark jeweller, moreover, no extra charge of hallmark will be levied.