Indian Minister: Gold jewelers must display exact price and purity details on ornaments

Author: Paul Ploumis03 Dec 2014 Last updated at 07:28:37 GMT

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The Minister for Consumer Affairs in India has directed the officials under his ministry to present a ground report on practices followed in displaying price and purity of gold ornaments by jewelers. Ram Vilas Paswan called upon jewelers not to sell gold ornaments without proper display of price and purity information.

The Minister also questioned the current practice by which Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is authorized to certify the purity of gold as low as 9 carat. According to him, the Ministry has received suggestions from various corners that BIS should be responsible for certifying gold jewelry of 18-24 carat purity. A report from the agency is awaited. A final decision on the matter would be taken upon receipt of BIS report, he added.

According to sources, there exists hallmarking of gold jewelry from 9 carat to 24 carat. However, not many jewelry stores display the prices of various carats. The Minister called upon the jewelers to check the pricing mechanism of various grades of gold and ensure that the ornaments are priced exactly according to their purity standards. It was brought to the notice of Ministry that good number of local jewelers and sometimes even the branded jewelry outlets don’t display exact prices of gold ornaments in terms of carat.

Presently, sale of non-hallmarked gold is rampant in the country. Non-hallmarked gold sales account for nearly 80-85% of total gold sales in Northern India, 70-75% in Eastern India and 50% in Western India. According to surveys, almost 80% of the jewellers in the Southern part of the country indulge in sale of hall marked gold.