Jewellery Shops in Chennai to Down Shutters on Monday to Protest New Hallmarking Process

Over 1000 jewellery shops in the city will remain closed on Monday (23 August) between 9:00-11:30 am, in a token protest against the arbitrary implementation of the new hallmarking process which requires jewellers to obtain Hallmarking Unique ID (HUID), a 6-digit code, for every piece of hallmarked gold article they sell. 

The Chennai Jewellers Association has called for the strike to strengthen the nationwide protest to be observed on the same day as announced by the National Task Force on Hallmarking which comprises members of the gems & jewellery associations across the country. 

Addressing a press conference, Mr Uday Vummidi, President, Chennai Jewellers Association, said, “Gold hallmarking, a purity certification of the precious metal, was voluntary in India. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), made gold hallmarking mandatory from June 16, 2021 in about 256 districts across the country that have Assaying and Hallmarking Centres. However, due to capacity inadequacy 16 to 18 crore pieces are lying idle without hallmarking. There is an estimated 3-year backlog, as the current capacity of hallmarking centres is only about 2 lakh pieces/day. At this speed, it will take almost 3-4 years to mark the existing stock. Adding to the woes of the industry, which is already affected by the piling up of stock of unsold jewellery, BIS is now introducing the HUID system. This can lead to an additional delay of about 5-10 days, further affecting the retail jewellery sector, especially the standalone, small jewellery shops.” 

He said that as there are provisions for cancellation of registration, penal actions, and search and seizure, HUID will bring ‘Inspector Raj’ in the industry. And, HUID can pose a threat to a customer’s rights to privacy as the system demands customers to reveal their personal details. “We have no problem with hallmarking. We welcome hallmarking, since it serves the purpose of ensuring the purity of gold jewels and gives our customers a sense of peace and assurance. However, HUID is not about quality. It is a type of tracking mechanism. And what business BIS has in tracking? Besides, the presence of GST and IT are adequate enough to track every actor in the retail industry, including the trade and the customers,” Mr Uday Vummidi said.

In his comments, Mr Jayantilal, President, The Jewellers and Diamond Traders Association, another, city-based industry body, said that across India over 47,000 registered jewellers are on an average holding 10 kg non-hallmarked inventory each. This equals 470 tons. About 6.7 crore pieces of jewelry, weighing 7 grams each, are lying with the newly registered jewellers for hallmarking. 

He added that even if a new tracking system is required it should take the trade and industry along, and take into consideration factors like the feasibility and existing infrastructure into account. “As it stands today, HUID is arbitrary. It is unfriendly to customers and detrimental to the growth of the industry – especially, the small and medium family jewellers. It is impractical and not implementable.”    

Chennai is one of the largest retail markets for jewelry in South India. It has 1000+ jewellery shops providing employment to about 40000 people – directly and indirectly. Most of the jewellers come under the cottage industry and they give jobs to lakhs of artisans. One of the major threats to them is mechanisation, which can take over the jobs of those skilled artisans