What are the new Gold Hallmarking Guidelines and Why are they made mandatory by the government

Gold is considered to be a safe haven for the majority of the Indian community and the households would consider investing in Gold and prefer investing in the yellow metal than any other asset class. The Indian households consider it to be the safest form of investment and using the jewellery gives them a pride in the society. Gold is much more than an investment option for an Indian household. In this article let’s look at the new gold hallmarking guidelines.

Gold Hallmarking – Latest News
What are the new Gold Hallmarking Guidelines?
Why Gold Hallmarking has been made mandatory?
Hallmarking centers in India
What about Existing and Old Jewelry?
FAQ

Gold Hallmarking – Latest News

The Union Ministry or the consumer affairs, food and public distribution had conveyed on 16 June 2021 that Hallmarking on gold jewelry and other related items is going to be mandatory from the proposed date.

It is conveyed that the ministry had also issued particular guidelines in regards to hallmarking based on a lot of consultations with the stakeholders. The Government of India has passed on the message that the initial implementation of the guidelines will be a phase wise plan covering around 256 districts as part of the plan.

Piyush Goyal who is the Union Minister of India had conveyed through Twitter that mandatory hallmarking in 256 districts will be implemented from the date of 16 June 2021 as a part of continuing the Government’s plan to try and achieve better protection and satisfaction for the customers.

What are the new Gold Hallmarking Guidelines?

According to the new guidelines laid down by the Government, the jewelers who have an annual turnover of up to INR 40 lakh will be exempted from the hallmarking rule that is mandatory.

The release had conveyed the message that hallmarking would be initially started with 256 districts of the country. The 256 districts are said to have marking centers. The release also added that the jewellers who have a turnover of up to INR 40 lakh will be exempted from the mandatory hallmarking.

The release also conveyed that there will be an exemption for the jewelries such as export and re-import of jewellery as per the Trade Policy of Government of India – Jewelry for Government, Approved B2B domestic exhibitions and jewelry for international trade exhibitions from mandatory hallmarking.

The ministry conveyed that Gold of additional carats such as 20, 23 and 24 will be allowed for hallmarking. Consumer items such as watches, fountain pens and other special types of jewelries such as Kundan, Polki and Jadau will be exempted from the hallmarking.

The Government has conveyed that in a move to provide an additional set of time to the manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers of gold jewelry there would not be any penalties implemented until the end of August 2021. Jewelers will be able to buy back the old jewellery from the customers that do not have a hallmark.

The old jewelry can be hallmarked by the jewelers as it is if that is possible by the jeweler or they can melt it and then get it hallmarked.

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Why Gold Hallmarking has been made mandatory?

Under the Hallmarking scheme of the Bureau of India standards (BIS), the jewelers are registered in order to sell the hallmarked jewellery and recognize testing and hallmarking centers. The BIS hallmarking regulations were implemented from the date 14 June 2018.

Hallmarking will enable and help the consumers to make the right choice while buying a jewellery and will also help in saving them from any sort of unnecessary confusion while buying gold. The ministry had conveyed that as of now only around 30% of the Indian gold jewelry is hallmarked.

This step is expected to make India as a leading gold market center in the world and hallmarking of jewellery and artifacts is necessary to enhance the credibility of Gold jewellery and the satisfaction of customers through the assurance of a third party for the marked purity or fitness of gold for consumer protection.

Hallmarking centers in India

It is to be seen that there is an increase in the number of Assaying and hallmarking centers in the country of up to 25 % and the ministry added that the number of the AH centers have increased from a count of 495 to 945 in the period of last 5 years.

The ministry added that as of now there are around 940 active Assaying and hallmarking centers and in that around 84 AHCs are set up by the subsidy scheme that was provided by the Government in various districts.

The assaying and Hallmarking centers has the capacity to mark around 1500 articles on a daily basis and the Government has conveyed that the AHCs has the capacity to hallmark around 14 crore articles on a yearly basis.

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What about Existing and Old Jewelry?

The consumers who possess the old jewellery will not have to be worried regarding the new hallmarking guidelines. The newly issued guidelines are only for sellers and not the individual owners or the retail owners of the jewelry.

The objective of the Government is to increase the credibility and the quality of the Gold purchases. The Government has conveyed that they would be forming a committee that will represent all stakeholders, revenue officials and legal experts in order to into the various problems that may possibly come into effect during the implementation of the scheme.

Conclusion

This move from India will be recognized in the world market and the country would be recognized in the global market. India has around 4 lakh jewelers according to the World Gold Council and out of these only 35,879 jewelers have been BIS certified.

FAQ

Which Hallmark is used in gold?

The BIS hallmark is used for gold hallmarking in India. It certifies that the piece of jewellery conforms to a set of standards laid by the Bureau of Indian Standards, the national standards organization of India.

What is the meaning of Hallmark Gold?

Hallmark gold is nothing but the certified gold. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) stamp a certificate of purity and fineness of gold which is called as hallmarking.

How can you tell if gold is Hallmark?

Check the hallmark sign that consists - The BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) mark denoted by a triangle, the caratage (22K915) showing the purity, the mark of the jeweller and that of the AHC and year of hallmarking.