The Indian government has decided to make gold jewellery hallmarking mandatory. The hallmarking system will facilitate stringent quality checks to check that the purity of gold is upheld.

Some jewelers in India proposed to adopt a process of self-certification but the proposal was declined by the authorities who thought Indian markets are not mature enough for this approach.

The time India becomes a credible market and a member of Vienna gold convention, there is great potential for the global share of exports to come here, said Labanyendu Mansingh, Secretary for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

It is certain that such credibility is only possible through hallmarking scheme which will become compulsory from January 2008.