Friday, 11th November 2005 (2780 views)

Hyderabad gained its first gold hallmarking centre on Wednesday November 9th.

Located in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Century Hallmarking has been set up by the Cochin Hallmark Company, an offshoot of Kerela's Chemmanur Gold Refinery (CGR) group.

The centre was opened by S M Bhatia, from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

Mr Bhatia said that, although hallmarking would nominally increase the cost of gold, it would be in the consumers' best interests, because it ensures the quality of gold.

"A ten 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," he commented.

Gold will be imprinted with five hallmarks: the mark of BIS, a fineness mark denoting the carat, the hallmarking centre's mark, the identification code of the jeweller and the year of manufacture.

Since April 2000, only BIS licensee jewellers have been allowed to hallmark jewellery in an effort to drive up standards.

 

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