Piyush Goyal extended Hallmarking of Gold Jewelry till June 15

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has welcome the extension of mandatory Hallmarking of Gold Jewelry till 15th June providing one more opportunity to the gold jewelers across the Country to get prepared for implementation of compulsory hallmarking on each and every item of gold to be sold in the Country post 15th June,2021. Earlier it was expected to be implemented from 1st June 2021. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and host of other organizations has earlier pitched for extension of the date in view of continued covid situation in the Country. The decision of extension was announced by Union Consumer Affairs, Railway and Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal at a Video Conference with prominent jewelry trade leaders of the Country held yesterday.
 
 CAIT National President Mr. B.C.Bhartia & Secretary General Mr. Praveen Khandelwal while complimenting Shri Goyal for extension of the date and formation of the Committee said that business community of the Country is prepared to embrace the technology and upgradation of goods to be sold in India since it will bring a mutual trust between the Government, traders and the consumers. However, there is a need to have laws, rules and regulations which are compatible with the on ground functioning of the trade in India to provide ease of doing business rather than complicating the system. Both the leaders appreciated the positive and firm approach of Shri Goyal in resolving the issues confronted by the domestic trade and assured that CAIT will augment hallmarking centers in association with All India Jewelers & Goldsmith Federation (AIJGF), a body representing small jewelry traders across the Country. There are about 4 lakh jewelers all over India which are providing employment to lakhs of skilled, semi skilled and unskilled people who are engaged in making of jewellery in different steps. 
 
Accepting the suggestion of CAIT and other organisations, Shri Goyal also announced formation of a committee to ensure proper coordination and resolve the implementation issues to be headed by Shri Pramod Tewari DG, BIS as the convener of Committee including Smt. Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs and representatives of CAIT Mr. Pankaj Arora, Smt Renu Sharma with representatives of Jewelers’ Associations, hallmarking center’s Association etc.  
 
Shri Goyal while addressing the conference categorically said that taking forward the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for increasing India’s share in global trade and to provide consumers the best an pure quality of the gold jewelry, the hallmarking on gold jewelry will eliminate the unscrupulous element from the trade and India will have the world’s best standards in Gold Jewelry. He urged the jewelry traders to obtain hallmarking registration immediately and made it clear that there will no further extension of the compliance date. He said that the Government is committed to take every step to boost domestic trade and obstacles, if any shall be removed but under no circumstances, the persons engaged in fake hallmarking or other unwanted business practices will not be spared. 
 
Shri Goyal said that constructive suggestions will be incorporated and teething issues in implementation would be resolved during the meeting of the Committee. However, Mr. Goyal insisted that the Committee should began its work immediately and all issues must be resolved quickly so that from 16th June only hallmarking certified jewelry is sold in India. The hallmarking of jewelry/artefacts will satisfy the customer through third party assurance for the marked purity/fineness of gold-he said.
 
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has already issued the parameters of obtaining registration under which every person engaged in gold jewelry will have to sell only hallmarking certified gold jewelry having purity of 14carrot, 18 carrot and 22 carrot. Hallmarking will enable Consumers to exercise their choice in purchasing of the gold jewelry. Earlier, Quality control order for mandatory hallmarking of Gold Jewelry/artefacts was issued by the Government on 15th Jan 2020, but the last date was extended to 1stJune 2021 to clear old stock of non-hallmarked jewelry. Presently, the A&H Centre’s can hallmark 1500 articles in a day, the estimated hallmarking capacity of A&H Centre’s per year are 14 crore articles by assuming that in about 300 working days, almost 500 articles can be hallmarked in each shift.
 
Mr. Bhartia and Mr. Khandelwal said that 20 carrot and 24 carrot gold jewelry should also be included in the hallmarking categorization since 20 carrot gold jewelry is mostly sold in North India and 24 carrot gold jewelry is sold in Maharashtra and few other States. Beside, the process of hallmark certification of Polki and heritage jewelry should also be included in the guidelines.