Over 1.26 lakh jewellers registered for gold hallmarking during July-Nov: Centre

The government has identified 256 districts from 28 states and union territories for its phase-1 implementation.Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Ashwini Kumar Choubey, in his written reply to the Lok Sabha, said about 1,26,373 jewellers have registered for hallmarking as of November 30.

More than 1.26 lakh jewellers have registered for gold hallmarking since its mandatory implementation from June this year, the government said on Wednesday.

Mandatory gold hallmarking, a purity certification of the precious metal, came into force from June 23 in a phased manner. The government has identified 256 districts from 28 states and union territories for its phase-1 implementation.

Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Ashwini Kumar Choubey, in his written reply to the Lok Sabha, said about 1,26,373 jewellers have registered for hallmarking as of November 30. And about 4.29 crore pieces of jewellery have been hallmarked since the implementation of mandatory hallmarking of gold ornaments from July 1 to November 30, he said. The minister informed the Lower House that hallmarking had been made mandatory from January 15, 2021. However, in view of the pandemic situation, the date was extended to June 1.

Thereafter, there were detailed stakeholders' consultations with representatives from jewellery manufacturers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers, consumer organizations etc. Taking into account the ground situation, gold hallmarking has been made mandatory from June 23 for 14, 18, and 22 carat of gold jewellery/artefacts in 256 districts of the country where there is at least one Assaying and Hallmarking Centre (AHC), he added. The minister said the government has constituted an advisory committee to deal with the issues faced in the implementation of mandatory hallmarking.

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