A delegation team led by UP Sarafa Association, along with GJC, met Union Minister Rajnath Singh on the mandatory hallmarking issue. The minister heard the concerns and issues regarding mandatory as presented by the delegation. He then called on Union Minister Piyush Goyal, and advised him to schedule a meeting with the gem & jewellery industry delegates early next week

The UP Sarafa Association delegation was led by Mahesh Chandra Jain, Nitin Khandelwal and Dinesh Jain from GJC, and Ravinath Rastogi, Rajan Rastogi, Abhishek Khere and Pradip Agrawal, among others, from the industry.

The next crucial meeting of the Advisory Committee will be held on 2nd August 2021.

Khandelwal, past Chairman, GJC, said, “We are grateful to Hon. Union Minister Shri Rajnath Singh ji for his patient hearing and glad that the UP Sarafa Association lined up this significant meeting. The plight of lakhs of MSME jewellers and craftsmen is at stake. We recommend the Government to acknowledge NITI Aayog report on gems & jewellery Industry for smoother implementation of the hallmarking regime.”

Jain said, “The industry’s annual business of Rs. 4.5 lakh crore, involving 900 tonnes of gold, is at a standstill, leading to chaos and collapse. The existing stock of approximately 5 crore jewellery pieces and new stock of 12 crore pieces will take years to hallmark. We are hopeful that the next meeting with Honourable Minister Shri Piyush Goyal ji will resolve our pending issues.”

Many jewellers have opposed the existing form of mandatory hallmarking, including HUID (hallmarking unique ID), fearing return to search and seizure and ‘License Raaj’, no accountability by the Assaying & Hallmarking Centres and loss of jobs and livelihood. GJC is hopeful that BIS will follow all its detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) submitted by GJC in the last advisory meeting for a viable implementation of mandatory hallmarking of jewellery in the country.