Page 2 - Gold Hallmarking

Govt calls meeting next week on mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery

Ram Vilas Paswan will chair the meeting to discuss the order the government wants to notify before Lok Sabha elections are announced.

Govt to make hallmarking of jewellery mandatory, small retailers seek time

India has 750 hallmarking and assaying centers and 100 are in pipeline

Govt to soon make hallmarking of gold sold in India mandatory, says Paswan

India has over 220 BIS-recognised assaying and hallmarking centres; and maximum of them are located in Tamil Nadu, followed by Kerala

Hallmarking runs at 30-40% capacity despite govt push

While the central government is working to enforce mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery, the average hallmark centre is operating at only 30-40 per cent of its capacity. There are 500 hallmark centres, each having the capacity to process 2,000 pieces a day (20 kg) of jewellery. They're located close to the jewellery manufacturing centres of Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Chennai, Coimbatore, Trissur, etc. Major cities have at least 10 hallmarking centres.The government is now offering Rs20 -50 lakh subsidy for setting up an HM centre. The monthly operational expense being around Rs 2.5 lakh, a centre needs a business volume of at least 750 pieces a day to be viable. Such being the case, "we cannot expect HM centres to come up in smaller towns and villages, even when the subsidy amount looks attractive", said the spokesperson for the Indian Association of Hallmarking Centres (IAHC), mentioning the 30-40 per cent utilisation figure at which many operate. Last week, the Union .

Hallmarking of gold and silver jewellery only voluntary: Govt

Setting up of A&H centres is market driven activity which depends on the commercial viability

Hallmarking rule on cards to ensure quality

Cost for jewellers set to go up; some challenges exist on the implementation front

Hallmark complications

Assaying gold jewellery may be a good idea, but it's tricky