The following is the procedure for Hallmark Registration in India:
Benefits of Hallmarked Gold
1. Mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery provides much-needed assurance to buyers about their quality
2. It ensures higher exchange or resale value because quality standardization always leads to price parity. This increases the trading of gold articles.
3. Buyers receive the necessary legal protection. Hallmarked gold/silver ensures they don’t get caught in fraud.
4. By selling hallmarked jewelry, retailers lay the base of sustainable business growth.
List of Different marks of a BIS Hallmark
Old Methods of Hallmarking
BIS Mark or Logo: his mark shows that a 3rd party or independent assessor has properly evaluated the decoration & validated the purity of a metal. In most instances, it is validated by one of the BIS-certified labs.
Purity Grade: There are two ways to know the purity of gold; one is Karats which is denoted by KT and the second is Fineness Number. So, the highest grade of gold is 24KT (purest), but it is too soft to be utilised in ornamentation or jewellery. As an outcome, a trace amount of other metals, such as silver or zinc, is added to gold to create long-lasting jewellery/adornment.
Hallmarking Centre’s Mark: This is the Hallmarking License of the marking centre or 3rd party evaluator. The label is stamped in every product in the centre and is inspected for purity of silver & gold.
Jeweller Mark: This is the manufacturer or jeweller’s mark on the metal article and each BIS-certified jeweller’s decorations bear a unique jeweller BIS Hallmark Logo.
Marking Year: This shows the year the object was labelled or hallmarked. The marking year is recognised by a letter of code assigned by BIS. For e.g., the letter A stood for 2000 and B for 2001 and so on.
New Methods of Hallmarking
The BIS has introduced a new method for marking jewellery and the new method contains a Unique Identification Number along with a BIS Hallmark and the purity of the metal. In 2019, the Indian Government announced that the Hallmarking of gold artefacts & jewellery would be mandatory across the country. After fulfilling the terms & conditions of the Hallmark Registration Certificate as specified in Regulation 5 of the BIS (Hallmarking) Regulations, 2018, precious articles of gold marked with Hallmark shall be sold only by registered jewellers via certified sales outlets. The list of licensed jewellers can be accessed by selecting the state or region and IS Number.