KOCHI: With the Government of India making hallmarking of gold jewellery mandatory from June this year, jewellers have been complaining of certain issues. To address the problems faced by jewellers, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has given relaxation in hallmarking.
According to the bureau, the order has been made applicable only in 256 districts in India where BIS recognised Assaying and Hallmarking Centres (AHC) are available. "In Kerala, all districts are covered except Idukki," said BIS officials with the Kochi office.
Small jewellers with an annual turnover of up to Rs 40 lakh have been excluded from mandatory hallmarking. They are permitted to sell jewellery without hallmarking.
"Jewellery weighing up to 2 gm has been excluded from mandatory requirement. The BIS registration is to be obtained by the jewellers or manufacturers who sell the jewellery and have an annual turnover of more than Rs 40 lakh," said the officials.
Those who undertake job work need not obtain registration. The jeweller or wholesaler who has given the job work has to take the registration and send jewellery for hallmarking.
All the fees for registration of jewellers have been waived off and it has been made a simple one-time process on the BIS portal www.manakonline.in. After obtaining registration, the certificate can be downloaded immediately without any payment of fees. The registration once taken is valid for a lifetime.
Hallmarking of gold jewellery began in 2000.