All that glitters is not pure gold

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, NOV. 18. The lovers of the yellow metal in the Pink City are paying much more than they need to. In the case of every 10 grams of gold purchased in the form of jewellery in the City, the customer is getting gold worth for 91 per cent of the cost only. That means, an additional sum of Rs. 376 is charged from every customer who is paying Rs.4300 for 10 grams of gold.

These not so glittering facts about the gold jewellery trade in the City - one of the major centres of bullion and jewellery - came to light in a recent survey conducted by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the national standards body, which provides Hall Marking certification to gold jewellery.

The details of the survey, revealed to the media persons here by Mr. D. R. Kohli, deputy director general, BIS (central region), brought to light that on an average the gold in the jewllery purchased from traders in the City lacked 8.74 per cent purity. In one of the 15 samples tested, the purity was found to be less by 16.56 per cent than what was claimed. In this case, the customer had to pay Rs.712 as additional cost.

Mr. Kohli pointed out that 60 per cent of the samples collected for the survey showed that the customers were cheated by 13.9 per cent in purity. The findings pointed out that the customers buying gold jewllery in the State capital were being charged for more than what they get. It is pertinent to note that out of the 250 licenses of Hall Marking granted by BIS in India, only 12 belonged to Rajasthan.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Other States
Previous : Roshan Seth waits for right role
Next     : Call for steps to tap oil reserves in Rajasthan