172 jewellers, but 1 hallmark centre in Noida

NOIDA: Jewellers in the city have started working on getting their old gold ornament stock hallmarked as the Union government has given them time until August 31 to complete all pending labelling of jewellery. But Noida has just one hallmarking centre and 172 jewellers, of which some 100 with an annual turnover of Rs 40 lakh have to undergo the mandatory process.Gautam Buddh Nagar is among the 256 districts of India, where hallmarking of jewellery as per the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has been made mandatory by the Union consumer affairs ministry to ensure that consumers get assured quality.“Noida has 172 jewellers, of which less than 30 have hallmark registration. The process for securing a licence is simple — one will have to register on www.bis.gov.in, which requires a fee of Rs 6,700, and then get one’s old gold stock hallmarked at a registered centre. The new standards will weed out unscrupulous practices,” Sudhir Singhal, a jeweller based in Noida’s Sector 18, told TOI.“However, there is a lot of work for those who have an old stock of non-hallmarked jewellery because they have just around two months to get it done. There is only a single BIS-authorised hallmarking centre in Noida. It is also unsafe to carry huge amounts of jewellery to other cities to get hallmarking done. Noida should have at least one more centre,” said Rajinder Verma, another jeweller.According to Sushil Jain, the founder of the All India Jewellers and Goldsmith Federation (AIJGF), any piece of jewellery which weighs more than 2 gms should have a hallmark of purity. “The new rule is applicable for any jeweller with a turnover of over Rs 40 lakh.” India is the second-largest consumer of gold in the world according to the World Gold Council.