Govt’s gold diktat irks smaller jewellers

With an aim to bring in transparency keep track of the gold entering the country and ensure that consumers are not duped by jewellers the government of India has mandated that every gold ornament should have a sixdigit Hallmark Unique Identification HUID and set March 30 as the deadline for thisThe deadline has been extended to June 30 only for jewellers who have already disclosed their old stocks in hand But smaller jewellers in the city are of the view that HUID will only increase the burden on them and stated that those operating from remote villages where hallmarking is not done would be worse hitThose who violate the HUID mandate will be imposed a penalty five times the price of the jewellery or sentenced to oneyear imprisonment or both under the Bureau of Indian Standards BIS Act However this wonrsquot have a major impact on small traders as the new norms exempt those traders whose yearly turnover is less than R40 lakh from compulsory HUID said an expert solicitor who deals with bullion tradersWhy HUID and not hallmarkA proprietor of a jewellery outlet in the suburbs who requested anonymity and has been selling only hallmark jewellery for the past twenty years said ldquoAs per the government notification all my old stocks which were hallmarked had to be embossed again with the new sixdigit HUID To my surprise not a single hallmarked ornament was found to either be inferior in quality or below the purity standards Then why the new HUID Is it that the government was not trusting its own hallmarking system that it had mandated earlier This has only added to the financial burden of jewellers who earlier paid for hallmarking and now for removing the hallmark and getting the HUID embossedrdquolsquoReduce Import duty insteadrsquoThe jeweller added ldquoWe hear from the bullion market that the government want to curb black marketing of gold About 800 tonnes of gold come to India yearly of which only 600 are getting accounted for The government is keen to stop this and hence the HUID has been introduced Instead the government should reduce the huge import duty of 15 per cent levied on imported gold By default gold smuggling will come down at a time when prices of gold have touched 60000 per gramrdquoBharat Jain a proprietor of a jewellery outlet Stuti Galiya solicitor Saiyam Mehra chairman All India Gem amp Jewellery Domestic CouncilFood adulteration vs goldThe jeweller stated ldquoThe bitter truth is the government can not stop the adulteration of basic food items including milk which is a daytoday need but is aiming to curb adulteration of gold which is a market only for those who can afford it not for the masses who canrsquot afford two square meals per day Also villages and large parts of the country do not have hallmarking facilities Have they thought of the small jewellers in these pockets who will be completely wiped offrdquoAlso readMumbai Police issues prohibitory orders for city till May 10 check detailsNo optionBharat Jain a proprietor of a jewellery outlet in Ghatkopar West has been in the business since 1975 He said ldquoI have no option but to abide by the government rules and had to incur an additional expense of approximately R53000 for 10000 pieces of hallmarked jewellery But only large chain and corporates outlets can manage these things easily as they have a large workforce and work gets distributed which is not the case with smaller ones which are mostly proprietary outlets where the owner has to multitask and needs to take the risk of carrying his stock to the HUID centres and even get them back after a day This means his shop will be closed for two days In Mumbai we can find hallmarkingHUID centres within three to five km but this is not the case outside the city limits or in rural areas The only way to curb the menace is by not targeting small traders but by also looking beyond within the bullion industryrdquo Expert speakSolicitor Stuti Galiya a partner with the law firm Khaitan amp Company said ldquoConsumers should download the BIS Care App on their Android phone before buying a gold item Before purchase they should inspect the article for a laserinscribed HUID They should then enter the sixdigit HUID on the app to verify the authenticity of the itemrdquoldquoThe mandatory hallmarking rule is applicable only for the purchase of new jewellery If a consumer has old gold items hallmarked with the old signs in their possession it will be considered hallmarked jewellery There is no need to get the alreadyhallmarked jewellery rehallmarked with the recently introduced 6digit alphanumeric code However where a consumer has in their possession unhallmarked gold items there are two optionsmdashget the old jewellery hallmarked through a BISregistered jeweller or get the jewellery tested from any BISrecognised Assaying amp Hallmarking Centre by paying nominal fees This will provide the item authenticity regarding purity in case the consumer decides to sell the itemrdquo said GaliyaldquoAlso jewellers with an annual turnover of less than R40 lakh are exempted from HUID hallmarkingrdquo she concludedJune 30Deadline for adhering to new ruleTeen Sawalmidday reached out to Saiyam Mehra chairman All India Gem amp Jewellery Domestic Council which has 3000plus members and took his view on the three areas of concernOn deadline extensionldquoThe extension is a major relief for jewellers who hold old jewellery stock The industry will try to emboss the HUID number on all items till June 30 In rural India jewellers will have to travel long distances to carry out hallmarking Hence there could be delaysrdquo said MehraOn burden of shiftldquoJewellers will have to bear the cost of hallmarking jewellery which will be passed on to the consumers at the time of purchase Intermediaries are just service providers and hence any additional cost of jewellery marking would be borne by consumers Mandatory hallmarking will create confidence among consumersrdquo he saidOn gold price riseldquoGold prices have reached an alltime high in rupee value following global markets as the economic uncertainty and the ongoing geopolitical tensions coupled with rising inflation and stagnating realestate and financial markets claim gold as the best investment avenue The gold price has offered nearly 20 cent returns in the last year and is set to offer at least 10 per cent additional profit in the next year While the ongoing seasonal pickup is a bit slow consumersrsquo sentiment continued to remain bullish towards goldrdquo