Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: The Central government had last year issued an Order creating it mandatory for all gold articles that are sold to be hallmarked by June 2021. But the business is of the opinion that the implementation of the Order devoid of the suitable ecosystem will jeopardise the company of jewellers placing their livelihood at stake, specifically these in rural markets.
One of the largest issues raised by the business is the lack of Assaying & Hallmarking (A&H) centres that evaluate the purity of the gold jewellery submitted by the licensed jeweller.
“What is the hurry to make hallmarking mandatory? 33% of the districts don’t even have Assaying & Hallmarking (A&H) centres to provide the third-party assurance. Imagine a jeweller in a small village having to travel 300 kms with gold valuing lakhs of rupees to get it certified risking theft and even his/her life” mentioned Mumbai-based jeweller Ashok Minawala that runs showrooms below the brand Danabhai Jewellers.
Danabhai’s concerns are representative of the whole business. In reality, the gems and jewellery business body All India Gem & Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) has written to the Department of Consumer Affairs below the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution requesting to postpone the deadline for implementation of mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery by a year (presently it is June 2021).
“Out of the 733 districts in the country, only 245 districts have A&H Centres as per BIS data whereas jewellers are in each and every district of the country,” mentioned Ashish Pethe, Chairman, GJC. He added that it will be extremely complicated to implement the law unless there is at least one A&H Centre in every single district in the nation.
“It is essential to have properly accredited, fully functional A&H Centres in all districts across the country, with proper infrastructure and trained personnel prior to the requirement of mandatory hallmarking,” he mentioned.
According to the Government order dated January 15, 2020 (“Order”) issued by the Bureau of Indian Standard (“BIS”) all gold articles are expected to be hallmarked and sold only by registered jewellers.
GJC mentioned that the percentage of districts in a number of important Indian States devoid of hallmarking centres is extremely higher. There is no presence of Hallmarking Centres in 488 districts. 66.58% of the nation has no Hallmarking Centres. 245 districts have Hallmarking centres but they are concentrated only in and about the urban region or clusters exactly where there is heavy concentration of jewellers.
“There are many states / Union Territories where there are no A&H Centres, i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep,” mentioned the association’s statement.
GJC is of the view that scarcity of A&H Centres will lead to jewellers closing their company and unemployment will be on higher rise. It is an undisputed reality that any A&H Centre would need at least 3 to 4 months to be commissioned. Considering the timelines for commissioning an A&H centre and the quantity of such centres that would be expected, it should be thought of irrespective of whether the June 1, 2021 timeline for mandatory hallmarking is achievable.