Gold hallmarking costlier: Fee up 67% ahead of festive season; check details

Jewellers will now have to pay Rs 75 for hallmarking each gold article, with a minimum charge of Rs 200 for every consignment.

Ahead of the festive season, the price of hallmarking gold articles has been raised by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Earlier gold hallmarking cost was at Rs 45. Now it has been raised to Rs 75.

The hallmarking charge for silver articles remains unchanged at Rs 35. The revised rates have come into force immediately, just ahead of the festive season.The change was notified through the BIS (Hallmarking) Amendment Regulations, 2026, dated September 14, 2026.BIS hallmarking is used to establish the purity of precious metal articles and certify them under the Bureau of Indian Standards system. A hallmarked article carries three key markings: the BIS logo, the karat or millesimal fineness and a six-digit alphanumeric Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number.

New gold hallmarking charges

Under the revised Schedule IV, jewellers will now have to pay Rs 75 for hallmarking each gold article, with a minimum charge of Rs 200 for every consignment.For silver articles, the fee payable by jewellers to recognised Assaying and Hallmarking Centres (AHCs) remains Rs 35 per article, subject to a minimum consignment charge of Rs 150.The increase has drawn concern from the All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC), which has called on the government and BIS to reconsider the decision and continue with the existing fee until stakeholders have been consulted.

"GJC and the jewellery industry have consistently supported hallmarking because purity assurance and consumer confidence are fundamental to our trade. But support for hallmarking does not mean that a nearly 67 per cent increase in the cost of mandatory compliance should pass without examination. Hallmarking volumes have expanded enormously. The industry, therefore, deserves to understand why the per-article charge needs to rise from Rs 45 to Rs 75 at this stage," said Rajesh Rokde, Chairman of the apex industry body.Rokde said the focus should instead be on tackling fake hallmarking, unauthorised operations and instances of non-compliance before imposing higher costs on jewellers who follow the rules.GJC Vice Chairman Avinash Gupta said the hallmarking system also needs to remain commercially viable for businesses that comply with the requirements."Compliance must remain commercially sustainable. If the compliant route becomes progressively more expensive while informal and unauthorised channels continue to operate, the differential between the two widens.

That is not desirable either for the government, the industry or the consumer," Gupta said.He also flagged concerns within the industry over aggressive discounting and commercial incentives being offered as businesses compete to increase hallmarking volumes.

Stocks of jewellers drop

Shares of Kalyan Jewellers, PC Jeweller and several other jewellery companies declined by as much as 4% on Wednesday after the BIS increased the gold hallmarking fee.Newly listed Lalithaa Jewellery Mart also touched its 5% lower circuit. The revised charge applies to every gold article regardless of its weight.As a result, a 1-gram piece and a much heavier jewellery item will both carry the same Rs 75 compliance fee. This makes the increase proportionately more significant for mass-market buyers and middle-income consumers purchasing lightweight gold jewellery.The nearly 67% increase in the mandatory hallmarking fee could therefore have a greater impact on lightweight and lower-value gold articles.The fee increase comes at a time when gold prices are already elevated. Industry concerns centre on the possibility that the higher fixed compliance expense could eventually be passed along the jewellery supply chain, increasing the cost associated with each article.

How hallmarking process works

A jeweller who wants to sell hallmarked jewellery must first obtain registration with the Bureau of Indian Standards. The entire registration process is conducted online.

The jeweller submits the application through the BIS portal, after which the registration is issued instantly and can be downloaded. There is no registration fee, and the registration remains valid for the jeweller's lifetime.Once registered, the jeweller sends the jewellery to a BIS-recognised Assaying & Hallmarking (A&H) Centre for testing. These centres examine the jewellery to determine whether it meets the prescribed standard.

If the article passes the required tests, the A&H Centre applies the hallmark to it.BIS has also introduced a digital system that puts the complete assaying and hallmarking workflow online and automates the processes carried out at these centres.The jeweller submits the hallmarking request online, while information generated during each stage at the centre, including inward receipt and weighment, XRF testing, sampling, fire assay and laser marking, is recorded digitally. This information can also be monitored in real time.Once testing is completed, the BIS server generates a unique six-digit alphanumeric code for every jewellery article. The A&H Centre then laser marks this code on the article, along with the BIS logo and the purity mark.