Times, trends and trade practices might have changed, but Indian consumers continue to be enchanted by the glitter of the yellow metal. In Indian communities, gold is directly associated with wealth, prosperity, happiness and the spirit of festivities. This cultural and ritual bonding makes India one of the largest gold jewellery markets in the world. Festivals such as Durga Puja, Karwa Chauth, Akshay Tritiya, and Diwali see a significant uptick in demand for gold. However, there is one festival that truly celebrates gold, and it is ‘Dhanteras’.
Associated with wealth, the practice of buying gold by those who can afford it is highly popular. However, this is where the ill practice of selling adulterated and spurious gold is also rampant. In rural India, which is home to majority of the Indian population, gold is a key element of the household economy. Around the festive season, farmers sell their crops and bring in cash and gold.
Thus, on the occasion of Dhanteras, most of them buy gold for investment purposes. In fact, gold jewellery and items are the most popular form of investment among rural Indian households. To protect buyers from being cheated on Dhanteras as well as other occasions, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) introduced the hallmarking process to eliminate this malpractice in the year 2000. However, the hallmarking process has failed to make an adequate impact due to voluntary adherence.
With an aim to protect consumer interests, the government has now made the process of hallmarking mandatory for all major jewellery makers across India. This is a landmark transformation in the jewellery retail sector. As per the system of hallmarking, gold jewellery items are certified through alphanumeric laser engravings. It features three components that represent the BIS logo, purity of gold and a unique hallmark ID (HUID).
The process makes the entire chain of production and sale transparent and accountable. At present, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) offers Hallmarking in fineness marks of 958, 916, 875, 750, 585 and 375, corresponding to 23, 22, 21, 20, 18 and 14 karat gold purity, respectively. Soon, HUID will be available on the BIS portal, so consumers will be able to verify the details of their products.
The process of hallmarking is of great benefit to Indian jewellery buyers for many reasons. The first and foremost reason is that the consumer gets exactly the carat value of the jewellery that is paid for. Secondly, a hallmarked jewellery item would also come with its weight mentioned on the hallmarking certificate. Since the gold is certified genuine, the customer will get the full value of the gold upon resale and can also avail of easy gold loans from banks or gold loan companies if needed.
Despite all these benefits, the customers continue to be tricked into buying non-hallmarked jewellery by the unorganised sector players and, at times, deliberately by the unethical retailers. There are myths being spread, such as hallmarked jewellery being much costlier and that the marking makes old jewellery redundant. The truth is that even when hallmarking is made mandatory pan-India, consumers won’t lose any value of their old gold jewellery. They can get it verified later.
In case you don’t have any hallmarked jewellery retailers in your town, neighbourhood, there is no cause to worry. You can check the trendiest and the most stylish gold jewellery online this Dhanteras and buy it from retailers who ensure delivery to every single pin code in the country. Go ahead and buy real gold now. Happy Dhanteras!
(The writer is the Senior Vice President — Design, Melorra)
