India Faces Dearth of Gold Assaying and Hallmarking Centres

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The official data published by the government points to shortage of adequate gold assaying and hallmarking centres in the country. It must be noted that the government has made hallmarking mandatory for gold and jewellery effective mid-January 2021 onwards.

According to the report, six states belonging to the northeastern region of the country and five union territories (UTs) do not have even a single gold hallmarking centre. The listed states are Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim. The UTs of Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and Lakshadweep too do not have assaying and hallmarking centres.

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At present, there are 877 assaying and hallmarking centres in 234 district locations across the country. The state of Maharashtra has the maximum number of 123 centres, followed by West Bengal with 102 and Tamil Nadu with 100.

The India Bullion & Jewellers Association (IBJA), the representative body of jewellers in the country, urged the government to set up more hallmarking centres so as to make the facility accessible to more jewellers.