Ever since the Bureau of Indian Standards debunked, through its survey, the purity claims of gold jewellers, consumers have been demanding that hallmarking be made mandatory in the country.

If that demand has become more strident now, there is a reason for it. It is now exactly five years since the government first introduced on a voluntary basis, the scheme of hallmarking or third party authentication of the purity of gold. Yet, till date, only 950 jewellers have become BIS licensees ? this is out of an estimated 1,00,000 manufacturing units in the country.

Even here, considering that India is the largest consumer of gold and the annual demand of gold in the country is over 500 tonnes, only 60 lakh pieces of gold jewellery have been hallmarked in the last five years.

Obviously, jewellers who are earning huge profits by palming of 14 or 19 carat gold as 22 carat gold would be reluctant to opt for the scheme, unless they are forced to do so through a law making hallmarking of all gold jewellery in the country, compulsory.

An expert committee constituted by the ministry of consumer affairs to examine the issue supported the consumer demand for compulsory hallmarking, but said the government has to first set up the necessary infrastructure ? one of them being the creation of assaying and hallmarking centres in every district in the country. At present, there are only 21 hallmarking centres in the country.

The union ministry of consumer affairs has therefore proposed a subsidy scheme, aimed at funding partly, the cost of equipment required to set up such a centre. In the first stage, the ministry wants such centres in 100 districts, selected on the basis of jewellery-making units and consumer demand. In the second stage, 200 more such centres will be promoted and eventually, every district will have its own assaying centre. In other words, the government is slowly preparing the ground for making hallmarking mandatory.

Till that happens, consumer demand for hallmarked jewellery can force the jewellers to go in for hallmarking. The finance ministry?s decision to levy a two per cent excise duty on branded jewellery should also give hallmarked jewellery an edge.

After all, hallmarking can give an even better assurance of quality than the branded products because the assurance comes from an independent party. And unlike branded products, hallmarked jewellery does not invite that two per cent excise duty.