According to the CAG report, consumers are exposed to the risk of buying impure gold jewellery due to inadequate coverage of Indian jewellers and goldsmiths as the hallmarking is not mandatory
New Delhi: To protect consumers from unscrupulous jewellers, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has advised the government to enforce compulsory hallmarking of gold jewellery, reports PTI.
Hallmarking of gold, which is voluntary at present, is a purity certification of the precious metal. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), under the Consumer Affairs Ministry, is the administrative authority of hallmarking.
"The Consumer Affairs Ministry and BIS may consider hallmarking of gold jewellery under mandatory certification so as to safeguard the interst of the consumers," CAG said in a report tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
Consumers were exposed to the risk of buying impure gold jewellery due to inadequate coverage of Indian jewellers and goldsmiths under the BIS's volunatary hallmarking scheme as the hallmarking was not made mandatory, it noted a report.
It also said BIS Act had not been amended to cover hallmarking under mandatory certification.
Noting that the reply of the BIS is not acceptable that the jurisdication to amend the Act for making gold hallmarking mandatory rested with the Consumer Affairs Ministry, it said, "Since it (BIS) is the national standard body of the country and is mandated to provide quality assurance to the consumers, whether the concerned standard is made mandatory or not."
In early January, the Cabinet had approved the BIS (Amendment) Bill that aims to expand the ambit of mandatory hallmarking to include more products, including gold. The Bill has not yet been introduced in Parliament.
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Time is opportune for authorities to think in terms of dedicated professional institutions at regional/state level which will handle gold from a banking angle, equipped with linkages for import and export of gold and gold products as also gold processing and certification, with borrowing and lending capabilities. States like Kerala have successfully intervened in other similar sectors like chits/kuris and lotteries, which were also areas of exploitation by vested interests, whereby players in private sector had to fall in line and function with discipline and self-regulation.M G Warrier