The Government of India has made hallmarking of gold jewellery and other artefacts mandatory from Tuesday, 15 June.
Earlier, it was scheduled to be implemented from 1 June, but in the view of COVID-19 pandemic, more time was given to jewellers to get prepare for the implementation.
As per the initial orders issued in November 2019, hallmarking of gold jewellery/artefacts was scheduled to be made mandatory from 15 January 2021. However, it was extended to 1 June 2021 in order to give time jewellers to clear old stocks of non-hallmarked jewellery.
As per the new guidelines, jewellers in India will be allowed to sell only 14, 18, and 22 carat gold jewellery.
A committee has been formed to ensure proper coordination and resolve the implementation issues, which will be headed by Director-General of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Pramod Tiwari.
According to the government, hallmarking will enable consumers/jewellery buyers to make the right choice and save them from any unnecessary confusion while buying gold.
Currently, only 30 percent of Indian gold jewellery is hallmarked, the government said.
It further added that there has been a 25 percent increase in assaying and hallmarking (A&H) centres in last five years. These centres can hallmark around 14 crore articles in a year.
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