 "BIS to make jewellery certification mandatory in metros")
The Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS), the national standard body, of India, seems to have made up its mind to implement yet another quality law, this time only for consumers in metros.
Jewellery retailers in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai will have to issue mandatorily a “card-like” certificate along with every piece of ornaments, giving gold content, probably effective January 1, 2014. Issued by the BIS, the certificate is proposed to contain details of all ingredients like purity of gold, type of other metals and stones, if any. The certificate will also incorporate the photograph of the jewellery item, said the source.
The proposed certification is over and above the ongoing practice of hallmarking in metro cities. Like any other regulatory decisions, this has merits and demerits. On strict implementation of this law, official sales of stolen jewellery will be restricted, as jewellers will seek certificates before entering into any deal. Also, smuggled jewellery will remain unsold. So, jewellers will have a fair trade practice with transparent ledgers for buy and sell of goods.
But its demerits will be harsher. Metros constitute 25-30 per cent of jewellery sales. Attempts to sell even legitimate jewellery items bought elsewhere will be difficult even in consumers’ urgent need of money. Hence, many consumers’ emergency will be affected badly despite having adequate jewellery wealth in store.
“For jewellers, however, it will have a multiplier impact. They hold between 5,000-10,000 pieces of ornaments of various types in inventory every time in festival seasons. Certificate with every item would mean equal number of careful paper handling, which is impossible,” said Bachchraj Bamalwa, ex-chairman of All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF).
For non-metro cities and rural jewellers, issuing a certificate with every piece of ornaments will not be mandatory. Jewellers fear a shift in business from metro to non-metro cities on implementation of this law.
“Certificates will surely bring trust. But trust for only metro consumers? Why does the government not implement the law across the country at one go?” asked Bamalwa. For strict implementation of the law, BIS has understandably set up a 14-member committee with representatives from BIS, jewellers and consumers. The committee is chaired by A K Sen, deputy director general of BIS.
Efforts to reach Sen did not elicit any response.
Most jewellery exporters have manufacturing units in metros. Hence, as per the law, they will have to send every piece of jewellery for BIS certification before dispatching it to overseas. But due to the lack of authenticity, overseas importers do not consider the certificate issued by Indian agencies. Hence, every piece of jewellery item is sent for separate certification in the country of destination.
“Hence, it is important to have proper infrastructure built before implementing such a rigorous practice. In today’s time, implementation of the proposed law is impractical,” said Haresh Soni, chairman of GJF.
For BIS, this would improve their income. For hallmarking, BIS currently charges Rs 30 for every piece irrespective of its size. With the implementation of the proposed law, it would charge between Rs 125-150 for every piece over and above the charge of hallmarking.
The additional cost, however, will be passed on to consumers. Since, consumers have been staying away from fresh purchase due to high price and liquidity crisis, further cost increase will prove a dampener for the jewellery sector, Soni said.
Jewellery retailers in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai will have to issue mandatorily a “card-like” certificate along with every piece of ornaments, giving gold content, probably effective January 1, 2014. Issued by the BIS, the certificate is proposed to contain details of all ingredients like purity of gold, type of other metals and stones, if any. The certificate will also incorporate the photograph of the jewellery item, said the source.
The proposed certification is over and above the ongoing practice of hallmarking in metro cities. Like any other regulatory decisions, this has merits and demerits. On strict implementation of this law, official sales of stolen jewellery will be restricted, as jewellers will seek certificates before entering into any deal. Also, smuggled jewellery will remain unsold. So, jewellers will have a fair trade practice with transparent ledgers for buy and sell of goods.
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But its demerits will be harsher. Metros constitute 25-30 per cent of jewellery sales. Attempts to sell even legitimate jewellery items bought elsewhere will be difficult even in consumers’ urgent need of money. Hence, many consumers’ emergency will be affected badly despite having adequate jewellery wealth in store.
“For jewellers, however, it will have a multiplier impact. They hold between 5,000-10,000 pieces of ornaments of various types in inventory every time in festival seasons. Certificate with every item would mean equal number of careful paper handling, which is impossible,” said Bachchraj Bamalwa, ex-chairman of All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF).
For non-metro cities and rural jewellers, issuing a certificate with every piece of ornaments will not be mandatory. Jewellers fear a shift in business from metro to non-metro cities on implementation of this law.
“Certificates will surely bring trust. But trust for only metro consumers? Why does the government not implement the law across the country at one go?” asked Bamalwa. For strict implementation of the law, BIS has understandably set up a 14-member committee with representatives from BIS, jewellers and consumers. The committee is chaired by A K Sen, deputy director general of BIS.
Efforts to reach Sen did not elicit any response.
Most jewellery exporters have manufacturing units in metros. Hence, as per the law, they will have to send every piece of jewellery for BIS certification before dispatching it to overseas. But due to the lack of authenticity, overseas importers do not consider the certificate issued by Indian agencies. Hence, every piece of jewellery item is sent for separate certification in the country of destination.
“Hence, it is important to have proper infrastructure built before implementing such a rigorous practice. In today’s time, implementation of the proposed law is impractical,” said Haresh Soni, chairman of GJF.
For BIS, this would improve their income. For hallmarking, BIS currently charges Rs 30 for every piece irrespective of its size. With the implementation of the proposed law, it would charge between Rs 125-150 for every piece over and above the charge of hallmarking.
The additional cost, however, will be passed on to consumers. Since, consumers have been staying away from fresh purchase due to high price and liquidity crisis, further cost increase will prove a dampener for the jewellery sector, Soni said.