The World Gold Council (WGC) is slated to come forth with a prescribed set of principles, or a code of conduct, called the Retail Gold Investment Principles, for the retail jewellery sector in India. The move is likely to bring in transparency in the sector, which has been facing severe perception issues, in the past. 

WGC, the global principles have already been put up on the Council’s website, inviting comments from all the stakeholders. The comments will be interpreted and implemented based on the requirements and challenges of the domestic gold industry. 

This will basically provide a platform for stakeholders, and those willing to be part of the initiative can conform to the code of conduct and bring in some standardisation and transparency in the industry, he added.

While the principles will be global, the standards will be locally tailored and put in place in consultation with all the stakeholders. The WGC is in the process of forming a steering committee and are likely announce names of members by April-May this year.

As a part of this initiative, the Council will conduct outreach programmes in various cities and get in touch with jewellers big and small. 

The Council will also put together a monitoring mechanism, which would be crucial to ensure the success of the platform. Once a company or a jeweller signs up on the platform, it has to ensure that nothing comes from the grey market and all efforts, including a strong supply chain, are put in place so that the customer feels safe. This will help the industry raise money through bank and institutional borrowing, because of the resulting transparency.