New Delhi, Jul 31 (PTI) A delegation of All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) and Uttar Pradesh Sarafa Association on Saturday called on Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and flagged concerns over the mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery that came into force from June 16.

Later, Singh called up his Consumer Affairs Ministry counterpart Piyush Goyal and advised him to schedule a meeting early next week with the jewellers' body to address the concerns, a statement issued by GJC said.

GJC and Sarafa Association informed the Union Minister Singh that many jewellers have problems with the existing form of mandatory gold hallmarking that lead to 'license raj' besides bringing fear of "search and seizure' by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

With no accountability on Assaying and Hallmarking Centres at present, imposition of a six-digit HUID (hallmark unique identification number) on jewellers too will affect the business, they added.

To address these issues, the GJC said it has already submitted a detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to BIS in the last advisory committee meeting for viable implementation of mandatory hallmarking of jewellery in the country.

"GJC is hopeful that the BIS will follow all its detailed SOPs," it said.

The next meeting of the advisory committee is on August 2.

GJC former chairman Nitin Khandelwal said the plight of lakhs of MSME jewellers and craftsmen is at stake. "We recommend the government to acknowledge the NITI Aayog report on Gems and Jewellery Industry for smoother implementation of the Hallmarking regime," he said.

GJC Director Dinesh Jain said, "The existing stock of approximately 5 crore jewellery pieces and new stock of 12 crore gold pieces will take years to hallmark."

Besides senior GJC officials and Mahesh Chandra Jain of the UP Sarafa Association were among other industry delegates present in the meeting.

The government has identified 256 districts from 28 states and union territories for phase-1 implementation of gold hallmarking. Gold hallmarking, a purity certification of the precious metal, was voluntary in nature so far.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)