Jewelry Industry Is On The Verge Of Complete Collapse: National Task Force On Hallmarking

(businessworld.in) - The Task Force states that the Bureau Of Indian Standards (BIS) cannot change the tradition and fabric of the jewelry industry by putting the livelihood of lakhs of jewellers at stake and thus affecting millions of dependents. The National Task force was formed out of 350 Associations / Federations representing East, West, central, North and South zones of the entire Gems & Jewellery Industry.  The objective of this committee is to ensure a smooth implementation of mandatory hallmarking across the country. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs formed an ‘Advisory Committee’ headed by DG BIS, with members comprising from BIS, various Ministries, export council, consumer forum and 3 members from the domestic Industry. As of today, post 3 meetings of the Expert Committee and 4 meetings of the Advisory Committee, barring a few issues, no substantial resolutions have taken place and nor any clarifications are being issued. BIS as an independent authority is only issuing FAQs, which has so many defects and ambiguities. It seems that the BIS is hell-bent upon enforcing things in their own way, not realizing the gravity of the concerns of the industry.