Govt to make hallmarking of gold jewellery compulsory

MUMBAI: The concept of hallmarking of gold jewellery which guarantees purity of the yellow metal has failed to take off. However, the government has plans to make it compulsory in the metro cities from January next year.

As per estimates, presently only a minuscule portion of gold ornaments sold in the country is certified for its purity and fineness from the government-approved hallmarking centres.

"Presently the system of hallmarking of gold jewellery is voluntary and consumers are not aware about it," said Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Deputy Director General A S Basu.

He was speaking at a seminar on "Are you buying pure gold?" organised by the Council for Fair Business Practices here over the week-end.

He said BIS is the sole agency assigned by the government to operate the hallmarking scheme in the country. Basu said BIS has tested samples of gold jewellery from different shops which have not opted for hallmarking and in majority of the cases, the samples picked up by the BIS officials failed to meet the specifications.

Basu said earlier the government had planned to make hallmarking compulsory across the country from January next year. However, in the wake of very slow progress made so far, the government is planning to make it compulsory only in the metros to start with and then gradually would take the concept to other regions.

He estimated that of the 800-odd tonnes of gold that is consumed in the country annually - the highest in the world - 680 tonnes is used for jewellery. However, only 20 tonnes of gold ornaments were certified for hallmarking.