The Centre has notified the third phase of mandatory gold hallmarking. It will bring 55 additional districts under the ambit of mandatory hallmarking. The Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery and Gold Artefacts (Third Amendment) Order, 2023 comes into force from Friday.
“The third phase of the mandatory hallmarking will cover an additional 55 new districts under the mandatory hallmarking system, wherein a hallmarking centre has been set up,” an official time Total number of districts covered under mandatory hallmarking are now at 343.
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BIS has implemented Mandatory Hallmarking in 256 districts of the country with effect from 23 June 2021, in the first phase and in the additional 32 districts with effect from 04 April 2022. Nearly 4 lakh gold articles are being hallmarked with HUID every day.
“Since the implementation of mandatory hallmarking, the number of registered jewellers have increased from 34,647 to 1.81 lakh, while Assaying and Hallmarking Centers (AHCs) have increased from 945 to 1471. More than 26 crore articles of gold jewellery have been hallmarked with HUID so far,” the official statement added.
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‘Consumers are encouraged to verify the authenticity and purity of the hallmarked gold jewellery items with HUID number purchased by using ‘verify HUID’ in BIS Care app which can be downloaded from the play store,” it added.
The number of downloads of BIS Care App have also increased from 2.3 lakhs during 2021-22 to 12.4 lakhs in the current fiscal year Further, more than one crore hits of ‘verify HUID’ in the BIS Care App have been recorded as of date in the span of last 2 years, the statement added.