Jewellers fear delays in hallmarking may hit biz

Jewellers fear that delays in the new hallmarking system will restrict supply of goods in the market during the festival season, though some in the industry claim backlogs at hallmarking centres have come down.

Many jewellers complain that they are facing delays in getting their goods certified under the country’s new hallmarking standards. Their apprehension is that this could lead to difficulties in fulfilling orders during the peak festival season, starting next month. As per new rules introduced in June, jewellers operating in 256 districts having hallmarking centres will be fined for selling noncertified goods from September.

The challenge is that there aren’t enough certifying centres in the country, and the rush to meet the new rules before the festival season starts has led to the process taking as many as three days from a couple of hours earlier, Ashish Pethe, chairman of the All-India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council was quoted by Bloomberg.

“Many of the centres are asking us to return with our goods some other day as they already have enough orders to process,” he said. “If the situation doesn’t improve in the next 15 days, then during the festivals of Dussehra and Diwali, supplies will be affected.”

However, a few in the industry beg to differ. Hallmarking centres currently have no backlogs, they assert.

“In the initial days, there used to be a backlog of 7 lakh jewellery pieces. This has now come down to 3 lakh pieces. The hallmarking centres altogether test on an average 3 lakh pieces of jewellery every day. Hence, there is no backlog in the system as per the Bureau of Indian Standards website,” said one industry representative.

Around three lakh pieces can weigh approximately three tonne and the consumption in 256 districts is not more than that. Further, the jewellers have time till September to get their entire stock hallmarked.