Jewellers unlikely to achieve 100% gold hallmarking by June 2021:
IBJA
Wed July 29 2020
Jewellers across the country are unlikely to achieve 100% gold
hallmarking by June 2021, the new deadline set by the government, according to
the India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA).
At present, only 30,000 jewellers out of the nearly 300,000 jewellers
in the country are BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) certified and are selling
hallmark gold.
The government had extended the deadline for mandatory hallmarking to
June 1, 2020, from January 15, 2021, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We have requested the government for extension of the deadline till
January 2022 as we have lost three months in lockdown and now it may require at
least nine months for the market to revive,” said IBJA national secretary
Surendra Mehta.
He also said that after the introduction of the Consumer Protection
Act, the government needs to relook at the entire Hallmarking Act.
“We feel the Consumer Protection Act is much wider in scope and covers
all aspects of sales and services while the Hallmarking Act caters to a limited
area. Further, there are different penal provisions in the Consumer Protection
Act and the Hallmarking Act. Such different penal provisions in two different
Acts may lead to delays in consumers getting justice,” said Mehta.
Jewellers said there are hardly any sales of gold jewellery these days
owing to the surge in gold prices to about Rs 50,000 per 10 grams and the
economic uncertainty prevailing in the market. Unless jewellers are able to
sell their products, they cannot replace their stock with hallmark gold, they
said.
Anantha Padmnabhan, chairman of the All India Gem & Jewellery
Domestic Council, said that by September 2021, jewellers will be able to
replace 70% of their stocks with hallmarked gold. “We will need another three
to four months to completely replace the stock with hallmarked gold. So the
deadline should be extended to January 1, 2022. “Small jewellers will suffer if
the deadline is June 1, 2021,” he said.
However, Uday Shinde, president of Indian Association of Hallmarking
Centres, said: “We were expecting that at least 100,000 jewellers will opt for
mandatory hallmarking by October this year. But the pandemic has delayed the
process. However, I feel that the process should not be delayed beyond June 1,
2021. If the date has to be deferred further, then jewellers should disclose to
the government their stock, both hallmarked and non-hallmarked.”
Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com