Jewellers ignore mandatory gold hallmark licence

Only 20 per cent of the total jewellers across India have so far obtained the hallmark licence of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certifying their adherence to the purity standard approved by the central government.

The hallmark licence is mandatory for traders with or without GST registration, and 1,14,791 jewellers have obtained the license so far. Government rules state that only gold ornaments of 14, 18 or 22 carat would be permitted for sale in the country, and jewellers should paste stickers clearly stating that HUID – Hallmarking Unique Identity – ornaments are being sold.

Gold hallmarking was made mandatory from June 16, 2021. The Centre exempted the jewellers from penal action till November 30, but many jewellers seem to have ignored the deadline.

Also read: Kerala cracks down on vaccine hesitancy amid Omicron threat

Within Kerala, only 5,300 of the 7,000-plus jewellers with GST registration have secured the mandatory licence, according to latest BIS data. This figure was 3,700 by the end of June, media reports stated, adding that mandatory hallmarking is being implemented in 256 districts in the first phase with the BIS (Hallmark) regulations coming into effect. In Kerala, the first phase covers all districts barring Idukki.

Jewellers complain that though hallmarking has been made mandatory, facilities have not been put in place in the country in consonance with the requirements. For instance, some states do not have a single hallmarking centre.

Currently, only 982 hallmarking centres exist across the country. And the number of jewellers is more than 5.5 lakh. Kerala has 73 BIS-recognised hallmarking centres, the reports stated.