Live
- DK Aruna obstructed construction of Narayanapet irrigation project: Revanth
- National Panchayati Raj Day 2024: Date, History, Significance, and Observance
- Unlock Radiant Skin: 10 Essential Foods for a Glowing Complexion
- Mamata Banerjee slams judiciary over court ruling in school jobs case
- Visakhapatnam will be destiny of Andhra Pradesh: Jagan Mohan Reddy
- OpenAI GPT-5 Launch: Expected Date, Upgrades, Price and More
- RBI sees India's GDP growth trend surging past 7 per cent
- Nifty Smallcap index registers fresh all-time high
- SC suspends Orissa Cong MLA's sentence in graft case
- RBI lists 6 factors powering India’s take-off to become world’s 3rd largest economy
Hyderabad: Stung by new policy, gold hallmarking centres protest
Staff of hallmarking centres protesting at the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) office at Moula Ali in Hyderabad on Tuesday
According to Central government’s new policy, hallmarking centres need to be located at the jewellery manufacturing centres only
Hyderabad: Staff of hallmarking centres across Telangana staged a token strike on Tuesday protesting against the newly-introduced hallmarking policies of the Central government.
The government had said that hallmarking centres need to be located at the jewellery manufacturing centres only. This move will lead to the closure of many hallmarking centres that are located outside the manufacturing hubs, said Sunil Kumar Agarwal, vice-president of South Zone Indian Association of Hallmarking Centres, Telangana chapter.
The Association also submitted a representation letter to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) at Moula Ali on Tuesday.
The Hallmarking Action Committee (HAC) is a forum of various all India associations of the BIS recognised gold hallmarking centres in the country.
Protesting against the new hallmarking process, city-based jewellers said the new hallmarking process requires gold retailers to obtain Hallmarking Unique ID (HUID), a six-digit code for every piece of hallmarked gold sold.
The Telangana Jewellers' Association has extended its support to the nationwide protest on Tuesday as announced by the National Task Force on hallmarking comprising members of the gems and jewellery associations across the country, said Sunil Agarwal.
Sunil Agarwal further said, "The HAC has taken up the issues of the hallmarking industry with the ministry and BIS, but a favourable decision is still awaited. We want to highlight our main grievances and seek the attention of the authorities. Consequently, all the 950 BIS-recognised hallmarking centres in the State went on one-day tool down token strike."
According to him, reverting to the earlier system of hallmarking at the point of jewellery retail sales ensures better consumer protection.
With the introduction of mandatory hallmarking from June 2021, the jewellery manufacturers and wholesalers are mandated to hallmark their goods before sending them to jewellers. Hence the hallmarking business has been confined to the 8 or 10 major jewellery manufacturing cities in the country, from where hallmarked jewellery is distributed to all the retailers across the country. But these manufacturers and wholesalers may not have any direct linkage with the retail jeweller or the end consumer, he said.
City-based jewellers and other association members including Vinod Pawar, Praveen Patil, Telangana State coordinator, Rehman Habib, Shubham Muluk, Krishna, Anil Kodag and Viraj, Suresh Patil participated in the protest.
