India gets its own gold reference standard

Kolkata: India Mint’s first home-grown high-purity gold reference standard, Bharatiya Nirdeshak Dravya (BND - 4201), will help coin manufacturers and exporters, with the country’s leading jewellery association promoting the benchmark among its members. Simultaneously, refiners such as MMTC PAMP, the only LBMA-(London Bullion Market Association) accredited refiner in the country, is also open to the idea of using India Mint’s gold reference standard if it is certified by 2-3 international laboratories. At present, the refiner uses certified reference material from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the US.

BND-4201, which is the reference material for gold of ‘9999’ fineness, will be beneficial to the public to ensure purity of gold. The high purity gold reference standard has been developed through collaboration among the India Government Mint (IGM), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, National Centre for Compositional Characterisation of Materials (Hyderabad), and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory.

Sources at IGM told ET that the gold reference standard has been verified by the Perth Mint in Australia. The mint is waiting for the formal launch by the ministry, following which it will be available for the global markets.


“In the current market scenario where jewellers are yet to adopt accountability standards, this is a big move by IGM. It will bring transparency in the bullion trade,” said Nilesh Gupta, executive director (technical), at the India Bullion & Jewellers Association(IBJA).

Surendra Mehta, national secretary of IBJA, said that the BND-4201 will help coin manufacturers and exporters. “Foreign buyers will not doubt the purity of gold jewellery exported from India after the full-fledged roll out of the standard.”