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New Delhi : “Hallmarking scheme is turning out to be grand success with more than 1 crore pieces of Jewellery hallmarked in a quick time,”- said Director General, BIS, while addressing a Press Conference on the subject of progress being made in the Hallmarking in India.
He said that more than 90,000 Jewellers have also registered in same time period. The Director General, BIS, said that the scheme had been a grand success because of their support and cooperation, which is reflected in the fact that the number of registered jewellers has increased to 91,603 and that of the jewellery pieces received for hallmarking and hallmarked since July 1, 2021, to August 20, 2021, to One crore Seventeen lakh and One crore Two lakh respectively. The number of jewellers, who sent their jewellery for hallmarking, increased from 5,145 during July 1, to July 15 and further increased to 14,349 during August 1, to August 15, 2021; and 861 Assaying and Hallmarking Centres (AHCs) started hallmarking as per the Hallmarking Unique ID( HUID) based system.
Dwelling on the issue of the pace of hallmarking, DG, BIS, said that there has been gradual and satisfactory increase in the pace of hallmarking. During the fortnight July 1 to July 15, 2021, a total of 14.28 lakh pieces were hallmarked, but this number increased to 41.81 lakh during August 1 to August 15. In a single day, on August 20, 2021, 3 lakh 90 thousand jewellery pieces were hallmarked. He added that there should not be any problem in hallmarking 10 crore pieces of jewellery in a year, which is the estimated number of jewellery pieces to be hallmarked if the hallmarking became mandatory across the country, according to a PIB release.
DG, BIS, also refuted the claim by some that the existing capacity of AHCs in 256 districts was not enough to meet the demand. He shared the data that out of 853 AHCs, which received jewellery during the fortnight August 1 to August 15, 2021, only 161 got more than 500 pieces per day, and more than 300 AHCs received less than 100 pieces per day. Hence, there was a lot of underutilised capacity in the country. He said that the functioning of the AHCs was being reviewed regularly and they have been instructed to follow the FIFO principle. Proposal has also been submitted to DoCA for enhancing the reach of AHCs.
He said that government had been accessible and sensitive to the demands of the jewellery industry and shown an exemplary sense of appreciation and accommodation of their genuine demands. Union Consumer Affairs Minister constituted a High-level Expert Committee before the scheme of mandatory hallmarking was launched, and the committee had three meetings. After the launch of mandatory hallmarking, an Advisory Committee was constituted to recommended measures for smooth implementation of the mandatory hallmarking.
This Committee, he said, had six meetings and submitted its report to the government a few days back. The last meeting with the stakeholders was held on August 19, 2021, in which representatives of manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, consumer groups, AHCs, all participated. He said that the call for strike by certain sections of the jewellery industry, therefore, was highly uncalled for. He added that at the stakeholders meeting on August 19, 2021, representatives of several organisations had condemned the idea of strike by some.and extended full support to the HUID-based hallmarking scheme.
Sharing details of the steps taken by the government to accommodate the genuine demands of the jewellery industry, DG, BIS, underlined following facts:
i. Hallmarking made mandatory only in 256 districts having an AHC.
ii. HUID was limited to AHC level, to start with, and to be implemented at the jewellers and consumers level after the new system settles down fully.
iii. Registration process was made simpler and registration fee waived.
iv. 20, 23 and 24 carats of gold jewellery allowed for hallmarking.
v. Indian standard amended to allow hallmarking of small mixed lots of same purity.
vi. Software improved to allow handing over of jewellery at the AHC level too.
vii. Help Desk created at the Headquarters and Branch Offices and 300 Awareness Camps held so far.
viii. Advisory Committee had n in-depth review of the issues concerning hallmarking and submitted its report to DoCA.
Replying to queries, DG, BIS, clarified, that it was a complete misinformation that BIS was tracking the B-t-B movement of jewellery and jewellers were required to upload the details of sales on BIS portal. There is NO SUCH requirement in on behalf of Jewellers,he added. He emphasised that the scheme had been a grand success and after having hallmarked more than one crore pieces of jewellery, it made no sense to be talking about the postponement or withdrawal of the scheme.
He appealed to the members of industry to extend their full cooperation in the implementation of the scheme and desist from strike and such activities, as Government was fully committed to address their genuine demands.