Hallmarking of gold a must in 14 districts of Karnataka

BENGALURU: Fourteen districts with assaying and hallmarking centres have been identified for the scheme, which mandates hallmarking of gold jewellery. It came into force on June 16.
They are Bengaluru Urban, Tumakuru, Hassan, Mandya, Mysuru, Dakshina Kannada, Shivamogga, Udupi, Davanagere, Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Dharwad, Vijayapura and Kalaburagi. Mandatory hallmarking has initially started with 256 districts in the country.
Pramod Kumar Tiwari, director-general, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), addressed a virtual press conference on the same.
A few sections are exempted from the compulsory hallmarking. They include jewellers with annual turnover up to Rs 40 lakh; watches, fountain pens and special types of jewellery namely kundan, polki and jadau; and export and re-import of jewellery as per trade policy of Government of India - jewellery for international exhibitions and government-approved B2B domestic exhibitions.
Hallmarking shall be done at the first point of sale - it could be the manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor or retailer. Alteration in the hallmarked jewellery up to 2 grams of increase or decrease will be allowed with responsibility of purity on the jeweller. Tiwari also said there has always been a high demand from jewellers to increase the grades of gold purity for hallmarking. Considering this, gold of additional carats, 20, 23 and 24, will also be allowed for hallmarking.
Old unhallmarked jewellery available in households can be sold to jewellers. They can continue to buy back old gold jewellery without hallmark.