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WGC launches Mandatory hallmarking Report

India can maximise the benefits of mandatory hallmarkin

This report covers key stages in the hallmarking journey in order to ascertain what works best in other jurisdictions and how India can maximise the benefits of mandatory hallmarking. Gold has played an integral role in Indian tradition and culture for centuries.

Presented as a gift at festivals, weddings and births, acquired by families as a means of saving and aspired after as an object of beauty, gold is considered both an investment and an adornment across India. Product integrity is a key attribute of gold industry and it is not evident in India.

The benefits of gold hallmarking are widely recognised. Policymakers, regulators and global market participants

acknowledge that hallmarked gold instils trust in domestic consumers and boosts confidence among international purchasers.

This could have widespread ramifications in India, helping to formalise the national gold industry, bolster consumer faith in the market and ensure that Indian jewellers play a leading role on the world stage. Greater maturity and international acceptance should encourage considerable industry expansion, benefiting the domestic economy and delivering significant job creation.

Against that background, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) introduced voluntary hallmarking of gold jewellery back in April 2000, supported by the World Gold Council. Over the following years, the World Gold Council and others undertook extensive research to make the case for mandatory hallmarking. And in March 2016, the Indian government introduced a bill enabling legislation for mandatory gold hallmarking.

The report advocates mandatory of hallmarking & says: Under global best practice, countries with mandatory

hallmarking require bullion to be hallmarked too, before it is circulated in the market.

This has two key benefits: it protects small manufacturers, who may lack the infrastructure to test for purity

themselves. And any sub-standard gold is identified at source, before penetrating the wider market. We would therefore advocate that India should move towards mandatory hallmarking of bullion.

At the occasion of the Report launch Somasundaram PR, Managing Director, India, World Gold Council said:

“The gold industry in India is at the cusp of transformation, as transparency, standards and infrastructure begin to define the next phase of reforms.

It is time to take hallmarking forward along the path to mandatory enforcement, leaving no room for debate around purity and safeguarding the interests of the consumer.  A regulatory push towards a phased implementation of mandatory hallmarking should be underpinned by a strong consumer pull, through consumer awareness programmes.

This will boost the brand image of Indian jewellery manufacturing and aid the industry’s ‘Make in India’ ambition to grow jewellery exports sizably.”

Readers note, sooner the report would be upload.

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