Union Minister Rajnath Singh meets G&J Industry delegates on concerns related to Hallmarking
National, 31st July 2021: A delegation team led by UP Sarafa Association along with GJC met Union Minister Rajnath Singh (also senior BJP leader and member of Parliament from Lucknow) on the mandatory hallmarking issue. Rajnath Singh patiently heard the concerns and issues highlighted on mandatory hallmarking for jewellery by the delegation. He then called Union Minister Piyush Goyal and advised him to schedule a meeting with the Gem & Jewellery industry delegates early next week
The UP Sarafa Association delegation was led by Mahesh Chandra Jain, along with GJC delegations Nitin Khandelwal and Dinesh Jain along with Industry delegates Ravinath Rastogi, Rajan Rastogi, Abhishek Khere and Pradip Agrawal among others.
The next crucial meeting of the Advisory committee will be held on 2nd August 2021.
Nitin Khandelwal, past Chairman, GJC, said, “We are grateful to Union Minister Rajnath Singh for his patient hearing and glad that the UP Sarafa Association lined up this significant meeting. The plight of lakhs of MSME jewellers & craftsmen is at stake. We recommend the Government to acknowledge NITI Aayog report on Gems & Jewellery Industry for smoother implementation of the Hallmarking regime.”
Dinesh Jain, Director, GJC, said, “Industry’s annual business of Rs. 4.5 lakh crore assuming 900 tonnes of gold is on standstill leading to chaos and collapse. The existing stock of approx. 5 crore jewellery pieces and new stock of 12 crore pieces will take years to hallmark. We are hopeful that the next meeting with Minister Shri Piyush Goyal will resolve our pending issues.”
Many jewellers have opposed the existing form of mandatory hallmarking including HUID (Hallmarking unique ID), fearing return to Search & Seizure and ‘License Raaj’ by BIS officials, no accountability by the Assaying & Hallmarking Centres and losses of jobs and livelihood. GJC is hopeful that the BIS will follow all its detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) submitted by GJC in the last advisory meeting and recommendations earnestly for a viable implementation of mandatory hallmarking of jewellery in the country.
