Tamil Nadu - Chennai

The mark of pure jewellery

CHENNAI: Hallmarking of jewellery in the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai could soon become compulsory. A proposal to this effect has been drawn up by the Central government and is waiting to be approved, K. Anbarasu, Deputy Director General, (Southern Region), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) said on Friday.

Speaking at a seminar on ‘Gold — concerns of consumers’ organised by the Department of Civil Supplies, he said jewellers were voluntarily applying for hallmarking. Till April, a total of 5,507 shops in the country had been recognised as hallmark showrooms. Till June 2008, there were 719 shops in Tamil Nadu, 277 in Karnataka, 406 in Kerala and 313 in Andhra Pradesh that received hallmark licensing. Mr. Anbarasu said there were a total of 106 assaying centres in the country, 54 of them in the south. From 2000, when hallmarking was launched in the country, till date articles worth Rs.402.45 lakh had been hallmarked.

T.P. Narayanan, Director (Southern Region), Regional Hallmarking Coordinator, BIS, said a referral assay laboratory would be set up in Chennai. Giving a general picture of the gold industry in the country, he said on an average, 880 tonnes of gold was being consumed every year. People buying jewellery must look for five markings, including the triangle BIS mark, the centre’s mark, code of year of making and jeweller’s mark.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu