Hallmarking centres question authenticity of World Gold Council data

Say over 55% jewellery hallmarked against 30% estimated by the Council

Gold jewellery hallmarking centres in India have questioned the authenticity of World Gold Council (WGC)’s data on hallmarked jewellery in India. The Council had claimed that only 30 per cent of the jewellery in India is hallmarked.

Releasing a study, “Developing Indian Hallmarking – A roadmap for future growth”, on July 30, the WGC chef had said, “Since the introduction of hallmarking standard in 2000 by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), India has made good progress in developing its hallmarking system. However, only 30 per cent of Indian gold jewellery is currently hallmarked.”

Harshad Ajmera, president of Indian Association of Hallmarking Centres, a body representing around 350 hallmarking centres, said, “We have successfully hallmarked 2.6 crore pieces of jewellery items during 2014-15 for which royalty has been paid to the BIS. Considering their average weight of 16 g gold ornaments weighing total 500 tonnes were hallmarked.”

Gold jewellery above 2 g can be hallmarked as per existing law in India. In global markets, however, hallmarking is applicable for 1 gram of jewellery.

Considering 900 tonnes of average annual gold consumption, nearly 55 per cent of jewellery was hallmarked in 2014-15. Besides, hallmarking centres also challenged WGC’s finding of widespread differences in purity and average under-caratage of anywhere between 10 and 15 per cent.

James Jose, managing director of Cochin Hallmark Co Pvt Ltd, said, “We invested lakhs of rupees on research for authentication and certification of jewellery. In our examination, negligible (less than a per cent) of gold jewellery was found under caratage. So, where did WGC took sample from and where were those samples tested, is unknown to us. Hence, prima facie the WGC findings look incorrect.”

He urged the government to pass the hallmarking Bill currently pending in Parliament, which would make gold jewellery hallmarking mandatory.

The association quoted BIS figures that taken as benchmark for government departments for policy decisions. According to Jose, hallmarking centres have accumulatively paid Rs 6 - 7 crore as royalty, at the rate of 10 per cent of hallmarking charges, to BIS. These centres charge Rs 25 per piece as hallmarking charge from customers irrespective of the size of the jewellery.

The Association which represents around 350 hallmarking centres across India, estimates existence of around 15,000 organised jewellery players out of nearly 300,000 across the country. These organized players represent around 75 per cent of Indian gold jewellery industry.

K Anand Kumar, Secretary to Indian Association of Hallmarking Centres, said that number of hallmarking centre is adequate to meet the requirement of mandatory hallmarking. He agreed that their spread is skewed towards cities and large towns. But, that depends upon customers' requirement, he added.

"Although, in smaller towns like Kanpur and Mysore, existing hallmarking centres' capacity utilization is just 30-40 per cent as against nearly 100 per cent in towns and cities," said Rajkumar Jain of Kesar Hallmarking Centre.

For setting up a hallmarking centre, a capital investment of Rs 1 crore is required. Over and above, Rs 300,000 income is needed monthly for survival. Considering Rs 25 per piece of hallmarking charge, irrespective of size and gold content, at least 12,000 pieces of hallmarking requirement is there for break even. The association says 350 hallmarking centres are enough to tackle mandatory hallmarking.