Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: More than a two-month period provided to companies, wholesalers, and retailers of gold jewellery for implementation of mandatory hallmarking with no any penalty is adequate for micro, little, and medium enterprise (MSME) in the sector, according to sector body India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA). “Two-month time is sufficient for MSMEs to hallmark their products. While the entire South is already selling only hallmark jewellery, the challenge is among businesses in the country’s North. While you have two months to comply with the order but you will be able to sell only hallmark jewellery. Also, considering that the government had recently given the extension twice amid the Covid crisis, the time given now is sufficient,” Prithviraj Kothari, President, IBJA told TheSpuzz Online.
The government on Tuesday had announced mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery sold from June 16, 2021 starting with 256 districts in the nation which have assaying and hallmarking centres. However, in order to assistance firms with sufficient time for hallmarking their stock, the government had decided not to penalize them till the finish of August 2021. Hallmarking is a purity certification of valuable metals and was voluntary in nature till now. “The timing is now good enough however we would want the hallmarking to be at the point of sale instead of stocks available. This means we should hallmark stock that is being sold by wholesalers or manufacturers to retailers instead of the entire stock. We had proposed this to the government as well,” Saiyam Mehra, Director, Unique Chains and Vice Chairman, All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) told TheSpuzz Online.
MSMEs and other firms in the sector have been supplied short-term relief last month right after the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court had ordered the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to steer clear of taking any coercive action on jewellers till June 14, 2021, who are not capable to comply with mandatory hallmarking regulation by June 1, 2021. The government had announced in November 2019 mandatory hallmarking from January 15, 2021, but the deadline was deferred till June 1 and additional till June 15 as jewellers had sought time to shift to hallmarking and register themselves with the BIS amid the pandemic. The writ petition for reprieving jewellers was filed by GJC.
Subscribe to TheSpuzz SME newsletter now: Your weekly dose of news, views, and updates from the world of micro, little, and medium enterprises
Apart from permitting jewellers to sell 14, 18, and 22 carats of gold jewellery, the government also permitted hallmarking of an further 20, 23, and 24 carats of gold on Tuesday. In a statement, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution mentioned that in the last 5 years, the quantity of assaying and hallmarking centers in the nation has enhanced from 454 to 945, of which 940 centers are operative although 84 of them have been set up below government subsidy scheme in a variety of districts. Currently, these centres can hallmark 1,500 articles in a day although the annual estimated hallmarking capacity of the centres is 14 crore articles. At present, only 30 per cent of Indian gold jewellery is hallmarked although according to World Gold Council, India has about 4 lakh jewellers, of which only 35,879 are BIS certified.
The hallmarking exercising aims to increase the credibility of gold jewellry and enhance client satisfaction via third-party assurance for the purity of the metal. The ministry mentioned that the move will support to create India as a major gold marketplace center in the World. “Unique identity code (UID) code (for traceability of jeweller) will also come into force in some time that will boost transparency and help to attract foreign investment. India is a jewellery manufacturing hub but purity has been an issue,” added Kothari.