The Consumer Affairs Ministry has said that 1.26 lakh jewellers have registered for hallmarking as of November 30, and 4.29 crore pieces of jewellery have been hallmarked in the July 1-November 30 period. The government had made hallmarking mandatory from June 23 in 256 districts.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, said, “The number of jewellers who got themselves registered for hallmarking as on November 30, 2021 is 1,26,373 and the number of pieces of jewellery that have been hallmarked since the implementation of the mandatory hallmarking of gold ornaments (July 1-November 30) is 4.29 crore.”

The minister said that an advisory committee, which included representatives of jewellers and AHCs, has been constituted by the Government to deal with the issues faced in the implementation of mandatory hallmarking. “Jeweller registration has been made free and valid for lifetime. Jewellers having a turnover of less than Rs 40 lakh, and polki, jadau and kundan jewellery have been exempted from mandatory hallmarking, and the Indian Standard for hallmarking was amended to provide for the hallmarking of 20, 23 and 24 carats of gold jewellery,” he added.

The ministry said that Indian Standard has also been amended to provide for hallmarking of mixed lot of jewellery, and the Hallmarking Unique ID (HUID)-based system has been introduced to ensure greater transparency in the functioning of the gold jewellery industry. “Further, the software has been made user-friendly and a help desk has been set up at BIS Headquarters and also at all BIS Branch Offices, to resolve the issues and problems of the jewellers and AHCs,” a statement issued by the ministry added.