Centre makes hallmarking of gold jewellery mandatory, violators to face action

In a good news for gold buyers, the government has made hallmarking of gold jewellery compulsory and jewellers across the country will get one year to implement this order. Minister of Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday said that gold ornaments of only 14, 18 and 22 Carat will be allowed. He added that there are 892 hallmark labs across the country and those violating the order would have to pay a minimum fine of Rs 1 lakh or 5 times the price of the article. The violators could face one-year imprisonment too.

The hallmarking of an ornament tells you the amount of gold and other metal in an ornament. As per new rules, the jewellers will have to take license from the government for hallmarking a jewellery.

Earlier, it was not mandatory for jewellers to hallmark each gold ornaments but the new law makes it compulsory for each jewellery shop owners to sell only those gold ornaments which have the hallmark on it.

Paswan said that the government will open 400-500 new assessing centres across the country in order to hallmark the gold ornaments. It is to be noted that currently there are 700 assessing centres in India.

Paswan, however, also announced that the government will not take any action against jewellers who are in rural areas and they will get one year to implement the new order.

The government is hopeful that the move will help in unearthing the illegal gold which has been hoarded by many people in the country.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 2016 requires the jewellers to mark gold under three measurements - 14 carat, 18 carat and 22 carat. A carat is a measurement indicating the proportion of gold in an alloy out of 24 parts. So, a bar of 18-karat gold is 18/24 parts gold.