Guidelines for mandatory hallmarking of jewellery were approved by the government in 2000 but their implementation has been deferred
Mandatory hallmarking can cover 90 per cent of gold jewellery manufactured in India.
Guidelines for mandatory hallmarking of jewellery were approved by the government in 2000 but their implementation has been deferred.
Data compiled by the Bureau of Indian Standards show 35 million jewellery items were hallmarked in 2015-16 on which value-added tax was paid.Guidelines for mandatory hallmarking of jewellery were approved by the government in 2000 but their implementation has been deferred.
Assuming an average weight of 15 gm of gold in an ornament, 525 tonnes of gold ornaments were hallmarked. The country's 375 hallmarking centres received 311 ornaments on average, which used up less than 50 per cent of their hallmarking capacity.
India buys nearly 1,000 tonnes of gold a year. Extracting investment demand and metal meant for exports, a majority of this quantity needs hallmarking.
"Over 90 per cent of jewellery manufactured in major hubs have adequate hallmarking capacity. Infrastructure is not an issue. The government should announce implementation of mandatory hallmarking," said Raj Kumar Jain, president of the Indian Association of Jewellery Hallmarking.
With amendments in 2015 to the Bureau of Indian Standards Act the agency can take action against manufacturers of jewellery that is not hallmarked. The ministry of consumer affairs is evaluating the implementation of hallmarked jewellery.
"It is only a matter of time till mandatory hallmarking is announced. We presume the government will implement it in phases depending upon the population base. Effective implementation will capture around 90 per cent of the jewellery manufactured in India," said Jain.
A majority of gold jewellery is manufactured in major cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Rajkot. In villages, a large amount of jewellery is procured from wholesalers in nearby towns.
K Anand Kumar, secretary of the Indian Association of Hallmarking Centres, said 350 hallmarking centres were enough to meet the mandatory requirement.
It takes an investment of Rs 1 crore to set up a hallmarking centre. An income of Rs 300,000 a month is needed for a centre to break in. At a hallmarking fee of Rs 25 a piece, that works out to 12,000 items of jewellery.
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