New Delhi [India], August 22 (ANI): More than 90,000 jewellers have been registered already and nearly 4 lakh pieces of jewellery are getting hallmarked each day now, said Director-General, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Pramod Kumar Tiwari on Saturday regarding the progress made in hallmarking in India.
He said at a press conference that the scheme had been a grand success because of their support and cooperation, which is reflected in the fact that the number of registered jewellers has increased to 91,603 and that of the jewellery pieces received for hallmarking and hallmarked from 1st July 2021 to 20th August to One crore Seventeen lakhs and One crore Two lakhs respectively. The number of jewellers, who sent their jewellery for hallmarking increased from 5145 during 1st July to 15th July increased to 14,349 from 1st August to 15th August 2021; and 861 AHCs started hallmarking as per the HUID-based system.
Dwelling upon the issue of the pace of hallmarking, DG, BIS said that there has been a gradual and satisfactory increase in the pace of hallmarking. During the fortnight 1st July to 15th July 2021, 14.28 lakh pieces were hallmarked, but this number increased to 41.81 lakh from 1st August to 15th August. In a single day, on 20th August 2021, 3 lakh 90 thousand jewellery pieces were hallmarked.
He added that there should not be any problem in hallmarking 10 crore pieces of jewellery in a year, which is the estimated number of jewellery pieces to be hallmarked if the hallmarking became mandatory across the country.
Tiwari also refuted the claim by some that the existing capacity of AHCs in 256 districts was not enough to meet the demand. He shared the data that out of 853 AHCs that received jewellery during the fortnight 1st August to 15th August 2021, only 161 got more than 500 pieces per day, and more than 300 AHCs received less than 100 pieces per day.
The Minister of Consumer Affairs constituted a High-level Expert Committee before the scheme of mandatory hallmarking was launched, and the committee had three meetings.
After the launch of mandatory hallmarking, an Advisory Committee was constituted to recommended measures for smooth implementation of the mandatory hallmarking. This Committee had six meetings and submitted its report to the government a few days back. The last meeting with the stakeholders was held on 19th August 2021 in which representatives of manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, consumer groups, AHCs, all of them participated, read a press release.
Sharing details of the steps taken by the government to accommodate the genuine demands of the jewellery industry, the Ministry underlined the following facts:
Hallmarking made mandatory only in 256 districts having an AHC.
HUID was limited to AHC level, to start with, and to be implemented at the jewellers and consumers level after the new system settles down fully.
The registration process was made simpler and the registration fee was waived.
20, 23 and 24 carats of gold jewellery allowed for hallmarking.
Indian standard amended to allow hallmarking of small mixed lots of same purity.
Software improved to allow handing over of jewellery at the AHC level too.
Help Desk created at the Headquarters and Branch Offices and 300 Awareness Camps held so far.
Advisory Committee had n in-depth review of the issues concerning hallmarking and submitted its report to DoCA.
“He appealed to the members of the industry to extend their full cooperation in the implementation of the scheme and desist from strike and such activities, as Government was fully committed to address their genuine demands”, he disclosed. (ANI)
