WGC calls for major upgrades to India’s gold hallmarking system

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The latest report by the World Gold Council (WGC) states that current hall marking scheme in India must be retained. However, it proposes a series of steps to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the current system.

The WGS report notes that only 30% of the Indian jewellery gets hallmarked. Moreover, there are serious concerns about the quality of at least some of these hallmarking centres. As a result, the actual hallmarked jewellery in the country falls to less than even 30%. This is despite the country having around 300 hallmarking centres. Southern India alone has 153 centres with Tamil Nadu having 57 centres, followed by Kerala with 39. However, almost one-third of the states and Union Territories in the country don’t have accredited hallmarking centres, WGC notes.

The report recommends various actions to improve the efficiency of the current hallmarking scheme in the country. Firstly, necessary steps must be taken to strengthen governance around hallmarking processes. In addition, campaigns must be carried out to create awareness of hallmarking among gold customers.

Presently, hallmarking is not mandatory in India. As a result, many customers are often cheated by jewellery merchants. WGC recommends that hallmarking should be made mandatory so as to ensure the gold content in the purchased jewellery. Introduction of nationwide hallmarking scheme would boost gold jewellery exports out of the country. Also, India’s proposed gold monetization scheme would function more effectively with the introduction of hallmarking scheme.

The report also suggests initiatives to carryout expansion of existing hallmarking centres and development of an Asian alternative to International Hallmarking Convention.

Meantime, the WGC report suggests that the under-caratage of gold jewellery in India has dropped from 20%-40% to as low as 10%-15% during recent years.