As per the Union Government’s new norms, hallmarking of gold jewellery has been made mandatory from Wednesday in eight districts of Odisha, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain said on Tuesday.

“Mandatory hallmarking has been implemented in eight districts, Balaeswar, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Ganjam, Jajpur, Khordha, Mayurbhanj and Sambalpur,” Swain said. Jewellers would be allowed to sell only 14, 18 and 22 carats of gold jewelleries. Gold of additional 20, 23 and 24 carats would also be allowed for hallmarking, he said. The Minister appealed to consumers to check hallmarking before purchasing jewellery.

As per the Bureau of Indian Standards-BIS- (Hallmarking) Regulations, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has made hallmarking on gold jewellery and other related items mandatory from June 16.

 Initially, the new norms were implemented in 256 districts of the country which have Assaying Marking Centres. Jewellers with annual turnover up to Rs 40 lakh would be exempted from the mandatory hallmarking. Export and re-import of jewellery as per the Government of India’s Trade Policy, jewellery for international exhibitions and Government-approved B2B domestic exhibitions would be exempted from mandatory hallmarking.

Items like watches, fountain pens and special types of jewellery, including Kundan, Polki and Jadau, have been exempted from hallmarking. Jewellers can continue to buy back old gold jewellery without a hallmark from consumers. According to the World Gold Council, India has around 4 lakh jewellers, out of whom only 35,879 have been BIS-certified.