What are the Indian gold hallmark symbols that need to be checked?

The latest news is that the central government has asked all the jewellers to approach and take hallmark certification through the Bureau of Indian standards before next year and henceforth no shop would sell the gold without the BIS Hallmark certification and this is good news to all and the author who is planning to purchase the gold. Either too the jewellers would purchase gold biscuits on wholesale rates and make jewels at their own facilities thus giving room for more inclusion of copper and other material to make inferior gold ornaments. Now that fooling will not be possible therefore please wait for a few days when the order would be fully implemented.

BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) hallmark certification was / is there since 2000 for certifying the purity of the metal. This was using by few or reputed Gold sellers for a particular models etc. Some of them were not using it though their own pattern was there to process in their own tradition.

In a serious note, Government has recently announced 'No hallmark, no gold sales from January 2021, or possibly earlier'. This will be implemented on stated time but there will be pros and cons for the seller and buyer too due to following the latest procedure to go through.

It will become normal after few weeks or month once after its implementation and public awareness about it. Purity and genuine method is one of the aim of the process. So, BIS certification is important one.

Generally, we all purchase gold from the sellers and we ask for 916 quality. But these days Hall Mark has become a very important quality check to the quality of the gold. This test is to be carried out and to be marked on the bottom side of the ornament. Presently a few suppliers are only having this hallmark testing policy. But as a purchaser, we should insist on this marking on the ornament.

The BIS has given three marks which are to be printed on the ornament you are purchasing. These three will be in addition to the printing of 916 symbols. It is compulsory to have a hallmark test and posting the symbols on the ornament is a must from next year. You can see the following link for getting the required details with images.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=j808-rdcCO8

The BIS hallmarking system is proof of the purity of the gold ornaments selling in the jewelry. The Bureau of Indian Standards appointed agencies are eligible for marking on jewelry. There are 4 pieces of information marking on the ornaments. The first is the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) logo, followed by the purity of gold (22/20/18 ct or .916 / .875 / .750), followed by the logo of the hallmark agency and lastly, the logo of the gold jewelry who is selling it.

Although the BIS Hallmarking process has been in place since the year 2000, only a few major gold sales outlets have boldly used the system. They used to take more making charges, saying this is Hallmarked Ornaments. Other jewelry seals, such as 22/20 and 22/19, were placed in jewelry and escaped the Quality Control.

Now, you need to know what is 22/20 or 22/19. It sys the purity of the gold used in making the ornament is 22 carats, and the gold used for welding the jewelry parts is less than 22 carats. Therefore, it shows that if we melt the ornament, the purity will be 20 carats or 19 carats., when comparing to the total purity of the ornament. (The gold used for making ornament is 22 carats and if we solder the parts with 22 ct. the parts also burn along with the soldering. So the gold used for soldering is made with more silver percentage to smoothen and to reduce the melting point.

However, the central government has decided to make BIS Hallmarking is mandatory. This is a very good choice for jewelry buyers. This mandatory decision will come into effect from 15th January 2020 but will be permitted to sell currently manufactured jewelry up to 14th January 2021. But from 15th January 2021 onwards, the rule that only BIS Hallmarked jewelry should be sold is strictly enforced and checking and seizure will commence.

22 ct (.916) Gold is obtained from 11 grams of pure gold (Thankam)is added with 1 gram of copper/silver.
In other words, the mixture of 11 grams of pure Gold and 1gram Copper/Silver will give the 22 carat Gold. The higher the quantity of copper/silver, the lower the purity of gold.
The pure Gold is very flexible and the Wear and tear will be more. So to harden the Gold, Copper or Silver is adding. This hardening is also necessary for making ornaments with high craftsmanship.

There are currently over five lakh gold merchants, one lakh gold jewelry manufacturing units and thousands of wholesale dealers. Within this, 29,000 merchants have a Hallmarking License. At present, none of the 889 Hallmarking institutions in the country are owned by the government. The gold merchants want government institutions to conduct the hallmarking process. Gold traders are concerned that the centers of existing hallmarking institutions are substandard.

The law states that if the purity of the Hallmarked jewelry is defective, the responsibility is solely with the merchants. Merchants are demanding that this clause be removed and that its responsibility be transferred to the Hallmarking Agency. All jewelry owners should be provided with the right to have the Hallmarking license. They also demand to bring jewelry making units and wholesale dealers under this law, without enforcing the law exclusively for Merchants. From them, merchants buy jewelry and sell it to customers. It is necessary to bring them under the purview of this Act to ensure that users get pure gold. Merchants now have to pay huge amounts to make Hallmarking on the ornaments. To get a hallmarking license they have to pay a huge fee. Renewing the license also requires a huge amount of money. GST registration is mandatory for applying for Hall Marking License. But many small jewelers in the country are not GST-bound.

Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Ram Vilas Paswan, has said that the number of Hallmarking Centers in India will increase, but there are currently no plans to introduce Hall Marking Centers in the government sector.

(Author has over 26 years of experience as a manager in a reputed jewelry )

When you are going to a jewelry shop for buying ornaments, many important things to look out for. The BIS hallmark, the price tag, and the weight of the stones are the most important ones.

BIS is a short form of the Bureau of Indian Standards. The emblem of BSI hallmark is engraved on all the jewelry. Along with this, a sign showing the purity of gold is also recorded.

The price tag is a record of the weight of the jewelry, manufacturing expenses, the weight of the stone and the price of the stone. If these are not recorded separately on the price tag, the customer should ask for it.

Some notable numbers will be recorded on the jewelry. On 22-carat gold is 916, on 21-carat gold, 875 and 18 carat 750.

The year of manufacturing will be recorded on the jewelry. By seeing the year of marking, we can get an idea about the duration and the design of the jewelry.

From the year 2021 the hallmark certification will be compulsory in India. Presently good jewellers are mentioning the hallmark symbols and asking more rates also but it is not mandatory to do so right now. So, there are some grey areas in this respect. Generally the purity of gold will be written in tiny letters like 916 or CDM or any reputed brand certification like Tata's Tanisque jewellery. Gold of 22caret is generally used for top class jewellery and below that even down to 14 caret is also popular among the common masses.

Some reputed jewellers have their own hallmark sign and their jewellery can be distinguished from others. They are a type of branded jewellery.

Hallmark verification is essential to know the purity of Gold and the composition of the alloying elements being added in the Gold such as Cu, Ag etc for the purpose of malleability of while preparing the ornaments from Gold. This should be considered as a welcome step for the customers and any such certification such as BIS hallmark system would ensure the content of Gold - metal.
Though this not a new phenomena and this rule was flouted long back in 2000. But the Jwellers maintained it in a relaxed way. Now since the Goverment seems to be serious in introducing this rule rigidly, it would create a favourable impact while buying Gold.
It is to be implemented from January 2020 and hardly a month is left in implementing this rule.
We have seen such follow up being followed by TATA's Tanisque where in they print in tiny letters such as 916 or CDM indicating the composition of the Jwellery.
24 Carat Gold signifies the 100 percent purity of Gold and for the preparation of ornaments the Jwellers use 22 part of Gold and rest is Ag, Cu, Zn etc so the Gold can retain the quality of malleability during the process of preparation.

Gold is the best friend of women and it is also a form of investment for many in India. The greatest concerns of people while buying gold jewellery is its purity. Even though the jewellers say that they sell pure gold or 916 gold jewellery, when we go to sell them, they fetch us different rates at different shops and the excuse for it is that the gold or jewellery is not pure or has more mixture of impurities. With the latest mandatory rules to be implemented on gold jewellery as told by Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, the Hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts be made mandatory across the country from 15th January 2021 will provide confidence and security to the buyer's. As there are some difference between Hallmarked Gold, KDM Gold and '916' Gold, let us understand some of the gold basics so that the gold buyers are not cheated.

1. Hallmark gold jewellery - It is an international standard of purity which guarantees the purity and fineness of gold and in India, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the only authorised agency. It helps the buyer by letting the buyer know whether gold or gold jewellery is real or fake. The Hallmark seal consists of 4 parts which are engraved on the gold or gold jewellery. The 4 parts are BIS logo, Retailer's logo, Assaying centre's logo and the Purity in karat and fineness (916, 875, etc.)


2. KDM gold jewellery - The process of making beautiful and complex gold jewellery designs is called 'Soldering' i.e. joining two metal pieces with the help of a filler metal known as 'Solder'. First, the gold (metal to be soldered) is heated with a soldering iron and then the solder is melted into the joining piece. As the melting point of solder is lower than that of gold, only the solder melts and not the parts that are being soldered, giving us the final finished shape.
   Earlier, a combination of Gold and Copper, i.e., 60% gold and 40% copper, was used as Solder and the alloy was strong and easy to prepare but the purity was only 60% i.e. when the gold jewellery soldered with this alloy is melted provides purity of less than 22 karat. This is the reason why your old jewellery had 22/20 marking, 22 karat its purity of gold used and 20 karat represents the melting purity.
   In order to get a high standard of purity in gold cadmium as it could be mixed in a ratio of 92% Gold and 8 % Cadmium. It gave better purity i.e. purity of 92%. The gold jewellery designed by using Cadmium were called KDM Jewelleries, but it had serious health issues on wearers and hence is no longer in use.


3. 916 gold jewellery - Now a days, we see this number as part of the seal on gold jewellery, it actually signifies the finesse or purity of gold jewellery. It provides the gold in the jewellery i.e. (22 ÷ 24 = 916) or 91.6 grams of pure 24 karat gold per 100 grams of alloy.
   We know that pure gold is malleable and very soft. Very complex designs or wearable jewellery is not made from it. Hence some alloys are added to make it wearable.

In recent times, Some of the jewellery has come up with an advertisement that gives confidence to customers and few of them are given below for your reference. This has nothing to do with brand, company or selling, only for information.

• Malabar gold have come up with the advertisement of " Promise is a promise" which provides us with this assurance: Free Lifetime Maintenance in 10 countries and in their 250 stores, Free Insurance coverage for 1 year on the purchase, All their diamond jewellery are tested and certified through 28 quality tests, Hold BIS hallmark on 22 carat gold jewellery, Invoice and price tag is transparent i.e. provides detailed information of the jewellery, Full value on Gold exchange i.e. Zero deduction, Guaranteed buyback.


• Kalyan Jewellers provides the following assurance like 100% IGI/GIA Certified Diamonds, Lifetime Maintenance, Zero deduction on Gold exchange, Global exchange and resale value and Guaranteed cashback.