Hyderabad gets gold hallmarking centre

11 Nov '05

2 min read

While India being the one of the world's largest consumer of gold, and the festive season being on, what more could reassurance could consumers ask for than having a Gold Hallmarking center at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

S M Bhatia, Scientist and Deputy Director General (Marks), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) inaugurated the Century Hallmarkings, the first 'gold assay and hallmarking centre' on Wednesday.

Cochin Hallmark Company Private Limited, part of the Chemmanur Gold Refinery (CGR) group of Kerala is behind the venture with the latter being accorded the first hallmarking status by BIS in India.

Four more such centres at Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Coimbatore and Kochi are likely to come up soon where gold will be hallmarked for five marks of BIS; fineness mark denoting the carat, hallmarking centre's mark, identification code of jeweller and year of manufacture – all being imprinted on the gold with the help of laser machines.

Speaking to mediapersons, Bhatia said hallmarking would ensure purity of gold. The cost addition passed on to the customer for hallmarking would be as low as Rs 18 up to 20 gm, Rs 50 between 20 gm and 100 gm and Rs 100 for gold weighing above 100 gm.

Speaking to newspersons, Bhatia said, “A maximum of Rs 300 per lot would be charged.”

Addressing the importance of hallmarking, he added that the yellow metal would result in a huge loss for the customers. He said, “A 10 per cent reduction in gold could result in a loss of Rs 5,000 crore on gold purchased by customers all over the country in a year.”

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