Who does not like to buy gold? Gold is also said to be a friend of trouble, but think what will happen when someone questions the quality of the gold you bought from your years of savings? Information has been received from sources that people get double numbered gold. What if someone gets into trouble? To solve this problem, the government is working on a new way of testing the purity of gold. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) director general Pramod Kumar Tiwari said the government is planning to make hallmarking of gold bullion mandatory after gold jewellery. This initiative of the government will reduce the incidence of fraud among customers while buying gold and people will be able to get pure gold.
From July 1, 2022, gold jewelery (14, 18 and 22 carat) and artefacts have been made mandatory in 288 districts of the country. Stakeholders are demanding that the quality of gold jewelery can be ensured only if there is a hallmark. Draft guidelines are being prepared. Gold bullion is used as raw material for making jewelery and its purity is of utmost importance considering the huge volume of jewellery. BIS has also set up an Advisory Group, which includes representation from jewellers, importers, refiners and assaying centres. An advisory group will go through the draft and suggest whether any changes are to be made. After this, people’s advice will also be sought on it.
India is the largest consumer and importer of gold in the world
Hallmarked bullion will help ensure the desired purity of gold jewelery being manufactured in the country. According to BIS data, more than 18 crore gold items have been hallmarked since July 2022 when mandatory hallmarking came into effect. Tiwari said that so far in the current financial year, around 92.08 per cent samples have been cleared by BIS referral assay laboratories. India is the largest consumer and importer of gold in the world. About 700-800 tonnes of gold is imported here annually.