No impact of jewellers' strike, major centres functioned normally: Govt

One day token strike called by jewellers to protest against the compulsory requirement for affixing a unique hallmarking ID on every piece of jewellery sold by them has no impact and all major business centres in all cities functioned normally, the government said on Monday evening, writes Krishnanand Tripathi, ETV Bharat

New Delhi: One-day token strike called by jewellers to protest against the compulsory requirement for affixing a unique hallmarking ID on every piece of jewellery sold by them has no impact and all major business centres in all cities functioned normally, the government said on Monday evening. "They said the call of the strike was itself based on untenable grounds and an attempt was made to misinform fellow jewellers about the various provisions of the hallmarking scheme," official sources said.

According to official sources in the Bureau of Indian Standards, the nodal body that is implementing stamping of unique hallmarking identification (HUID) on gold jewellery sold in the country, the strike enjoyed the support by a very small section of jewellers and left no impact on the business. "As expected, the misguided attempt by these limited set of persons to disrupt the normal functioning of jewellery business today has failed miserably," an official source told ETV Bharat.

The hallmarking of gold jewellery, which was voluntary, was made compulsory by the government in June this year in 256 districts in 28 States and Union Territories. As per the rule, jewellers, manufacturers, traders and gold refineries are required to get a unique hallmarking ID through a BIS recognised Assaying and Hallmarking Centre (AHC). Jewellers resented the move for compulsory use of HUID with every piece of jewellery sold by them, saying that it has nothing to do with the purity of the gold and it was just a tracking mechanism for the government.

They also complained that the process was taking 5-10 days time which was creating order backlog in the industry. Jeweller's bodies announced a one-day token strike on Monday as a meeting called by the government last week failed to break the deadlock. While government sources claimed that the strike was a failure, the All India Gem Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) claimed that most jewellery shops remained shut in response to the strike call. GJC said some 350 jewellery associations were part of the nationwide strike.

Responding to the GJC's claim, official sources said more than one crore pieces of jewellery were hallmarked in recent weeks and a large number of jeweller's associations have voiced their concerns and opposition to the strike."Government of India has always been open to all constructive suggestions that will help in the implementation of Gold Hallmarking in the country," said an official.

HUID will ensure credibility of hallmarking

In an earlier interaction with the media, Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Director General of the BIS, said the government was duty-bound to ensure the credibility of the hallmarking process and HUID was a step in that direction.

He had also rejected the claims of capacity constraints at the authorised hallmarking centres that delayed the certification by 5-10 days, saying that more than 90,000 jewellers have adopted the scheme and more than 1 crore HUID have been issued in the last few weeks. “The country does not have the stomach for more than 10-12 crore jewellery pieces in a year and at this rate, we will be able to hallmark all the jewellery items,” Tiwari had said.

In response to a question by ETV Bharat, Tiwari also ruled out any threat to privacy of a customer's data due to use of HUID. “Hallmarking is in the interest of both consumers as well as businesses. Vested interests, who fear for the end of decades-old opaque business practices should come forward with an open heart and embrace the change like others,” an official source told ETV Bharat.