Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery & Artefacts
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) introduced the scheme of hallmarking of gold jewellery in year 2000 to protect the interest of the consumer at large. It was voluntary initially. Any jeweller, who could be a retailer or a wholesaler or a manufacturer having registration from the Bureau can have their jewellery hallmarked by a Recognized Assaying & Hallmarking Centre following guidelines as set out by BIS for operating the Centre.
The Hallmarking is the process of certifying the purity and fineness of gold. If you see BIS hallmark on the gold jewellery/gold coin, it means it conforms to a set of standards laid by the BIS. Hallmarking gives consumers an assurance regarding the purity of the gold they bought.
The hallmarks earlier consisted of four mandatory marks, i.e., BIS logo, the fineness mark in three-digit numerical number, the hallmarking center’s logo, and the year of marking. The system has been discontinued now since July 2021 and the last two marks of earlier system have been replaced by a six-digit alpha numeric called HUID (hallmarking unique identification). An end customer (consumer) buying a hallmarked article of gold from a licensed jeweller can now verify the detail such as the name of the seller/manufacturer, the name of certifying hallmarking centre, the description of article including weight, etc., just by clicking the HUID number on a special mobile app provided by BIS called “BIS CARE.”
Since June 2021, the mandatory hallmarking was in the country and currently is being practiced in 286 districts as of December 23 and the Bureau intends to introduce it across the country once the infrastructure for hallmarking is made available in each of 750+ odd districts in India.
The process of hallmarking consists of a rigorous inspection of inspection and 100% testing of the articles by use of high sensitivity XRF equipment to ascertain the homogeneity, drawing of sample from each homogeneous lot, subject to an internationally recognized fire assay method for accurate determination gold content and then hallmarking.
Nearly 600 Metric Tonnes of gold jewllery is hallmarked in India now under the mandatory scheme of hallmarking managed and regulated by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
Gold Purity Chart
| Number of Karats | Parts of Gold | % of Gold Purity | Millesimal Fineness |
| 9K | 9/24 | 37.5 | 375 |
| 10K | 10/24 | 41.7 | 416/417 |
| 12K | 12/24 | 50.0 | 500 |
| 14K | 14/24 | 58.3 | 583/585 |
| 18K | 18/24 | 75.0 | 750 |
| 22K | 22/24 | 91.7 | 916/917 |
| 24K | 24/24 | 99.9 | 999 |
