The Centre’s plans to make gold jewellery hallmarking mandatory seems to have hit a roadblock with the industry raising concern over the Bureau of Indian Standards excluding different grades of gold purity from hallmarking.
According to the BIS rules, designated hallmarking centres are allowed to hallmark only three categories of purity — 22 carat, 18 carat and 14 carat.
The government had to postpone the earlier mandatory hallmarking deadline of January 1, 2018 due to resistance from the industry.
Nitin Kadam, Director, All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council, said the government should include different grades of gold purity for hallmarking as they are popular with consumers.
For instance, he said in Maharashtra gold jewellery made of 23 carat is more popular, while in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh 21 carat is in demand.
Down South, studded jewelleries are made with 12 carat gold.
“If a customer wants jewellery made of 23 carat, I cannot turn him/her back. There is no special effort needed to certify the purity of these low caratage jewelleries,” he added.
Ashok Minawala, former Chairman, GJC, said there are also difficulties in inscribing unique identification number on each jewellery.
While the objective of this norm is not clear yet, there are concerns over the platform that will be used for generating and storing these identification numbers and its accessibility, he said on the sidelines of an event to launch the Council’s first ever knowledge sharing programme Manthan Gem & Jewellery Conclave 2018 to be held here between April 5 and 6.
[“Source-thehindubusinessline”]
