Mumbai, Dec 7 (PTI) The World Gold Council (WGC) todaycalled for implementation of mandatory hallmarking in a phasedmanner in the country.
The government has indicated that it is planning tomake hallmarking along with carat count mandatory for the goldjewellery sold in the country from January.
"We believe that a gradual roll-out of mandatoryhallmarking would prove most beneficial to India, structuredin three phases. The first phase could cover India's 22largest cities, from Mumbai and New Delhi to Nagpur and Patna.
"The second phase, beginning a year later, can coveraround 700 district headquarters. The third phase would beginin (next) one or two years to roll out programme acrossIndia," the WGC said in its report here.
The report, `Mandatory hallmarking: Global practisesand road map for India', is about the current state of goldhallmarking in India and a holistic study of the country'sgold market.
WGC India Managing Director Somasundaram P R said:"The gold industry in India is at the cusp of transformation,as transparency, standards and infrastructure begin to definethe next phase of reforms. It is time to take hallmarkingforward along the path to mandatory enforcement, leaving noroom for debate around purity and safeguarding the interestsof the consumer." According to the WGC report, despite the introductionof hallmarking standards in India 17 years ago, there are only15,000 licensee jewellers supported by some 500 assaying andhallmarking centres (AHCs) which is inadequate.
Retailers need to take responsibility for hallmarkingin India in the short-term and in the long-term manufacturersshould assume responsibility for hallmarking, the report said.
All major cities should have at least one AHC toensure that hallmarking can be effectively rolled out inmetropolitan centres, it said.
To effectively supervise the industry, the Bureau ofIndian Standards needs to increase its capacity 60-fold, theWGC report said. PTI APKRK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.