Jewellers in twin cities oppose Hallmarking Unique ID norms
“We are not against hallmarking but HUID in the current form is time-consuming and will hurt the business,” said Twin Cities Jewellers Association president Kailash Charan.
Hyderabad: Select jewellers in twin cities have downed their shutters on Monday protesting the implementation of Hallmarking Unique ID (HUID) following the call by the All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC).
“We are not against hallmarking but HUID in the current form is time-consuming and will hurt the business,” said Twin Cities Jewellers Association president Kailash Charan.
Hallmark is an official mark used as a guarantee of purity or fineness of precious metal articles. Hallmarking of gold jewellery started in 2000 but had been voluntary. It has become mandatory from July 1 and jewellery and artefacts of 14K, 18K and 22K have to be hallmarked. Jewellery below 2 gram has been exempted, as also jadau, kundan and polki jewellery techniques and designs.
Hallmarking unique ID
HUID brings transparency in the functioning of the jewellery industry and ensures consumers’ right to get the right stuff for their money. Anyone can get existing jewellery hallmarked and get the true valuation of gold and their savings.
The hallmarking stamp now has four symbols — BIS logo, purity in carat and fineness, identification mark of the Assaying and Hallmarking Centre (AHC) and jeweller’s stamp. The last two stamps will be replaced by a six-digit alphanumeric HUID. This is akin to Aadhaar card for jewellery. Every article will have to be separately tagged.
Progress
According to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which is the implementing body for hallmarking, so far more than 91,600 jewellers have registered, and 1.17 crore jewellery pieces have been received for hallmarking and about 1.02 crore pieces have been hallmarked till August 20.
Why some jewellers are opposing HUID?
According to Sureshchand Kothari, General Secretary, Pot Market Jewellers Association, Secunderabad, an estimated that 10-2 crore jewellery pieces are manufactured in India per year. In addition, the existing stock of almost 6-7 crore pieces are yet to be hallmarked. Current capacity of hallmarking centres is about 2 lakh pieces per day. At this rate, it will take almost 800-900 days or equivalent to three years to mark this years’ production.
Currently, it is taking 5 to 10 days to hallmark products. This is bringing the industry to a standstill. This higher turnaround time will result in loss of employment and poor return on investment. This will increase the cost of jewellery to the consumers. Tonnes of jewellery are lying idle due to delays in the existing hallmarking process, he said.
The new hallmarking processes involve cutting, melting and scraping of jewellery, which is intended to be sold. The purpose of hallmarking is defeated when jewellery has been damaged. Removal of jewellers’ name from the jewellery will be detrimental to the interest of consumers when they wish to sell or exchange. Hallmarking should be based on point of sale while all other applications of storage, display, transit, exhibit to sale, and manufacture should be removed from the BIS Act and Regulation, he said.
The penal and criminal consequences on the jeweller, who has not manufactured or hallmarked the jewelleryand sold it like a trader, will eventually result in winding up of businesses and result in loss of livelihood of employees, karigars and their dependents, he said.
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