The goverment on Wednesday made it mandatory to hallmark gold jewellery in order to ensure purity and to standardise its rates for customers. The move will be first implemented in 256 districts. This will enable jewellery to be resold at standard rates as there will be a uniform gold valuation., ensuring people will not be cheated while buying gold ornaments.

From Wednesday, jewellers are allowed to sell 14, 18 and 22 carats of gold only. But the gold of 20, 23 and 24 carats are also allowed for hallmarking. The government said that the hallmarking was needed “to enhance the credibility of gold jewellery, customer satisfaction and consumer protection”. Until the announcement of the move, only 40% of gold jewellery was hallmarked, reported NDTV. 

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The previous deadline was in January, but it was postponed by four months after jewellers asked for more time due to the COVID-19 crisis.

“Continuing our government’s endeavour for better protection and satisfaction of customers, mandatory hallmarking in 256 districts will be implemented from June 16. No penalty will be imposed till August 2021″, wrote Piyush Goyal, the Consumer Affairs Minister, on Twitter.

Some jewellers, including the ones with an annual turnover below Rs 40 lakh, have been momentarily exempted from mandatory hallmarking, after consultations with stakeholders. “Jewellers can continue to buy back old gold jewellery without a hallmark from consumers”, said the government, adding that old jewellery can be hallmarked if viable, reported NDTV.