TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery will become a reality any time during the next quarter, that is, from financial year 2018-19, if the government decides to go ahead with it.
The Bureau of Indian Standard has submitted rules under the amended BIS Act enacted two years ago, to the law ministry, which is understood to have cleared them. The matter now lies with Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
Jewellery hallmarking was also recommended by the Niti Aayog panel on comprehensive gold policy, and sources say the government is likely to go ahead with the measure irrespective of when decisions on other aspects of the policy are taken.
Consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan had said on several occasions in the past, that hallmarking would be implemented soon. According to the rules, three categories of purity — 22 carat, 18 carat and 14 carat — will be hallmarked by designated centres.
The demand from some states such as Maharashtra, for hallmarking 23-carat jewellery, will be taken up at a later stage, sources said. The Niti Aayog panel, in its report submitted to the finance minister last month, had recommended that mandatory hallmarking be a well thought-out process, focusing on ease of doing business.
