The World Gold Council has welcomed the decision of the Government of India to make hallmarking of gold jewellery mandatory across the country by January 15, 2021, describing it as “an excellent step in the right direction” and one that will benefit “consumers and the trade alike”.

The organisation was responding to last week’s announcement by the Hon’ble Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Shri Ram Vilas Paswan that hallmarking of gold jewellery & artefacts would be made mandatory across India within a year from the official notification that will be issued on January 15, 2020.

In an official release, the ministry explained the rationale behind the period of one year for implementation, saying this will help “to ensure that new A&H centres will be set up by private entrepreneurs at locations where demand of Gold Jewellery and artefacts arises; completion of the registration process of jewellers and one year time for retailers of jewellery to clear their existing stocks”.

The official announcement added that draft Quality Control Order for mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts has been hosted on WTO website on October 10, 2019 for comments for a period of 60 days.

Stating that the policy action was long overdue, Somasundaram PR, Managing Director, India, World Gold Council said, “It will change the image of the Indian gold industry and enable it to market our famed jewellery handcrafting skills in an environment of trust and transparency. Mandatory hallmarking will lead to more jobs in assaying and purity verification which in turn will support the gold monetisation scheme. The period of one year to transition takes into account business realities and is very supportive of trade. We welcome it and do hope the trade sees this in positive light, working wholeheartedly to make it a success.”

The official Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has been running a hallmarking scheme for gold jewellery since April 2000. As on October 31, 2019 there are 877 Assaying and hallmarking centres spread in 234 district locations across the country and so far 26,019 jewellers have taken BIS registration, the government said.