TS implements gold hallmarking in 7 dists
Mandatory system also comes into force in 12 AP dists
The mandatory hallmarking of gold came into force in seven districts in Telangana and
12 districts in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday.
The Centre earlier announced that the mandatory hall-marking of gold jewellery and artefacts would be implemented in phases from June 16. Initially, it is being implemented in
256 districts across the country, which have assaying marking centres.
The seven districts in Telangana include Mancherial, Peddapalli,
Warangal(Urban), Rangareddy, Hyderabad and Khammam. The 12 districts in AP are Srikakulam, Vizi-anagaram, Visak-hapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasham, Nellore, Kadapa, Kurnool and Anantapur.
In November 2019, the Central government had announced that the hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts would be made mandatory across the country from January 15, 2021. But the deadline was extended for four months till June 1 and later till June 15 after the jewellers sought more time in view of the pandemic. Gold hallmarking is a purity certification of the precious metal and has been voluntary in nature so far. “Continuing our government's endeavour for better protection & satisfaction of customers, mandatory hallmarking in 256 districts will be implemented from June
16, 2021. No penalty will be imposed till August
2021,” Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted after the meeting. After extensive consultation with stakeholders, the government relaxed mandatory hallmarking of gold for certain players in the jewellery sector. For instance, the government exempted jewellers with annual turnover of up to `40 lakh from mandatory hallmarking, said an official statement issued after the meeting. It has also been exempted on those who export and reimport jewellery as per the government's trade policy, jewellery meant for international exhibitions as well as for government-approved B2B domestic exhibitions.
From June 16, jewellers in 256 districts will be allowed to sell only 14, 18 and 22 carats of gold jewellery.