Enhancing Trust in Gold Jewellery: BIS’s Hallmarking Certification Scheme

India is the world’s second-largest consumer of gold, importing over 1,000 tonnes annually, with gold purchases deeply intertwined with weddings, festivals, and generational wealth. Yet for decades, a troubling reality sat behind the glitter: a buyer had no reliable way to confirm whether the gold they paid for was actually as pure as the jeweller claimed. Visual inspection cannot determine gold purity. This gap between what consumers were told and what they actually received made the gold jewellery market a minefield of potential fraud – until the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) stepped in with its hallmarking certification scheme.

What is the BIS hallmarking scheme? 🔗

According to BIS, hallmarking is the accurate determination and official recording of the proportionate content of precious metal in precious metal articles. In simpler terms, it is a third-party quality guarantee – an official stamp on gold jewellery that tells the buyer exactly how pure the gold is, verified not by the seller, but by an accredited testing laboratory.

The BIS Hallmarking Scheme for gold was officially launched in April 2000, anchored in the standards framework under the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 and operationalised through the BIS (Hallmarking) Regulations, 2018. The legal mandate for mandatory hallmarking came through the Gold Jewellery and Gold Artefacts Order, 2020, issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. This order required all gold jewellery and artefacts to conform to IS 1417:2016 – the Indian Standard governing grades of gold alloys – and bear the BIS Hallmark.

The scheme’s twin objectives are clear: protect consumers against adulteration, and compel manufacturers and jewellers to maintain legally defined standards of fineness.

From voluntary to mandatory: the 2021 turning point 🔗

For nearly two decades after its launch, hallmarking was voluntary. Jewellers could choose to get certified or not. The government changed this position decisively on June 16, 2021, making hallmarking mandatory in phased rollouts across Indian districts. This was a landmark shift in consumer protection policy.

The rollout has proceeded in stages. The first phase launched on June 23, 2021, covering 256 districts. A second phase added 32 more districts from April 4, 2022. The third phase from September 6, 2023 covered 55 newly added districts. Most recently, a fourth phase began on November 5, 2024, adding 18 more districts and bringing the total under mandatory hallmarking to 361 districts. The scale of adoption has been striking: since the mandatory scheme’s launch, the number of BIS-registered jewellers rose from approximately 34,647 to over 1,94,039 – a more than fivefold increase – while the number of Assaying and Hallmarking Centres (AHCs) grew from 945 to 1,622.

From April 1, 2023, the government made the 6-digit alphanumeric Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number mandatory on every hallmarked gold article sold in India. Jewellery with the older four-logo hallmarking system without a HUID could no longer be sold after that date.

The three marks every consumer must know 🔗

Before 2021, hallmarked jewellery carried as many as five components. Today, three marks are mandatory on every hallmarked gold article:

BIS Standard Mark (BIS Logo): This is the official seal of the Bureau of Indian Standards, confirming that an accredited assessor has tested the jewellery and it meets prescribed Indian Standards.

Purity in carat and fineness: This mark tells the buyer exactly how much gold they are getting. Common grades are 22K916 (22 carat, 91.6% pure gold), 18K750 (18 carat, 75% pure), and 14K585 (14 carat, 58.5% pure). Hallmarking is available for gold in 14, 18, 20, 22, 23 and 24 carat grades.

6-digit alphanumeric HUID: This is arguably the most powerful consumer protection tool in the scheme. Every individual piece of hallmarked jewellery receives a unique HUID – essentially a digital fingerprint. No two pieces share the same code. This number enables full traceability of the article, linking it to the specific jeweller, the AHC that tested it, the date of hallmarking, and the purity grade.

The certification process: how it actually works 🔗

The hallmarking process involves three key actors – the jeweller, the Assaying and Hallmarking Centre (AHC), and BIS itself.

Step 1: Jeweller registration 🔗

Any manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor, or retailer selling gold jewellery must first register with BIS through the online portal at manakonline.in. Registration is granted immediately upon application, with no fee charged and no document upload required at the initial stage. The registration is valid for the jeweller’s lifetime. Importantly, jewellers with an annual turnover of up to ₹40 lakh are exempt from mandatory hallmarking, though they may register voluntarily if they wish to sell hallmarked jewellery.

Step 2: Submission to an Assaying and Hallmarking Centre 🔗

Once registered, the jeweller submits jewellery items to a BIS-recognised AHC for testing. These centres operate under IS 15820:2009, the Indian Standard governing general requirements for the establishment and operation of AHCs. The centre tests each article for its precious metal content and, if it meets the required purity standard, stamps it with the BIS hallmark along with the HUID. The first point of sale in the chain – manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer – is responsible for getting the article hallmarked, and this hallmarking needs to be done only once across the entire supply chain.

Step 3: Testing and quality verification 🔗

Hallmarking in India involves three stages of testing. First, every article from a given sample undergoes homogeneity testing to check uniformity and whether it meets regulatory standards. Second, one item from every 50 similar items is randomly selected for purity testing – a preliminary surface test is done, followed by collection of smaller samples for more detailed examination. Finally, the tests intensify to examine the gold’s purity, value, and fineness with precision. Only after clearing these tests is the hallmark applied.

Step 4: Surveillance and enforcement 🔗

BIS does not stop at certification. It conducts periodic surveillance visits to registered jewellers’ outlets, where BIS representatives collect samples of hallmarked articles available for sale and verify their conformity to Indian Standards. If a hallmarked sample fails, the person responsible for getting it hallmarked – the one who made the first point of sale – faces penal action. BIS may also cancel a jeweller’s registration certificate for false declarations, non-compliance, or selling jewellery of lower purity than claimed.

The HUID and the BIS Care App: technology in service of consumers 🔗

One of the most practical consumer-facing developments under this scheme is the BIS Care App, available on both Android and iOS. Using the ‘Verify HUID’ feature in the app, any consumer can enter the 6-digit HUID printed on their jewellery and instantly see the jeweller’s registration number, the AHC’s address and registration details, the article type, the hallmarking date, and the purity grade. This transforms what was once an opaque, trust-based transaction into a verifiable, transparent one.

The app also serves as a complaint platform. Consumers dissatisfied with BIS-certified products can file complaints directly through the app or via the online portal at bis.gov.in. Complaints can also be submitted by email at complaints@bis.gov.in.

Consumer rights and compensation under the scheme 🔗

The scheme is not merely about certification – it also provides legal remedies when things go wrong. Under Section 49 of the BIS Rules, 2018, if a hallmarked precious metal article is found to be of lower purity than stated, the consumer is entitled to compensation equal to two times the monetary value of the purity shortfall for the weight of the article sold, plus testing charges. This double-compensation rule gives the scheme real enforcement teeth and incentivises jewellers to maintain strict purity standards. The hallmark, once applied, remains valid for the entire lifetime of the jewellery.

Consumers also retain the right to get their jewellery independently tested at any BIS-recognised AHC on a chargeable, priority basis. The AHC is required to issue a formal Assay Report identifying the article and confirming its tested purity.

What is exempt from mandatory hallmarking? 🔗

Not all gold articles fall under mandatory hallmarking. Key exemptions under the mandatory hallmarking order include: articles meant for export under a foreign buyer’s specification; articles intended for medical, dental, veterinary, scientific, or industrial purposes; gold bullion in forms such as bars, plates, sheets, and coins; jewellery for international exhibitions; and articles that are not substantially complete and are intended for further manufacture. Special jewellery types such as Kundan, Polki, and Jadau – which involve embedded stones and complex construction – are also exempt because the hallmarking process may damage them.

The broader impact: numbers that tell the story 🔗

Over 40 crore gold jewellery items have been hallmarked with a unique HUID since the scheme’s mandatory implementation – with more than 4 lakh items being hallmarked every single day. The number of registered jewellers has grown from 43,153 to over 1,93,567, and AHCs have expanded from 948 to 1,611. The Delhi High Court, in All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council vs Union of India (2021), acknowledged the importance of the transition to mandatory hallmarking while calling for a balanced approach that accounts for the practical challenges facing the industry – a reminder that consumer protection law must always be implemented with both rigour and fairness.

For Indian consumers, the BIS hallmarking scheme has fundamentally changed what it means to buy gold. A piece of jewellery bearing the BIS logo, purity grade, and HUID is no longer simply something a jeweller assured you is pure – it is something the state has independently verified and stands behind.

What do you think? Given that over 40 crore gold articles have already been hallmarked, does the current penalty framework – double compensation for purity shortfall – serve as a strong enough deterrent against fraud in India’s vast, fragmented jewellery market? And as hallmarking expands to more districts, how should the law address the enforcement gap that still exists in rural and semi-urban areas where awareness of HUID verification remains low?

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIS_hallmark
2. https://www.bis.gov.in/hallmarking-overview/?lang=en
3. https://www.lakshmisri.com/insights/articles/hallmarking-scheme-of-bis-safeguarding-the-purity-of-precious-metals/
4. https://ssrana.in/corporate-laws/consumer-laws/hallmarking-of-gold-jewellery/
5. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=2073332
6. https://www.bis.gov.in/hallmarking-jewellers/
7. https://www.vincular.in/new-hallmarking-rules-for-gold-jewellery-artefacts
8. https://www.bis.gov.in/hallmarking-overview/jewellers-registration-scheme/
9. https://cleartax.in/s/hallmark-registration
10. https://www.businesstoday.in/personal-finance/investment/story/dhanteras-2024-govt-urges-shoppers-customers-to-bis-hallmarked-gold-jewellery-only-check-key-details-451943-2024-10-29
11. https://www.bis.gov.in/hallmarking-overview/hallmarking-faqs/mandatory/