THE Government will consider making hallmarking of silver jewellery and articles mandatory after evaluating the effectiveness of the process, which has been introduced on a voluntary basis. On September 4, the Government announced introducing voluntary hallmarking for silver jewellery and articles, effective September 1, implementing a digital identification system to ensure metal purity for consumers.

 

“We need some time to evaluate it. Six months should be enough. We will look at this for six months, and after that, we will consider whether to make it mandatory or not,” Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Director General of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), told PTI on Friday. The official made the remarks in reply to a question about whether the government may consider making hallmarking of silver jewellery mandatory. BIS is the National Standard Body of India established under the BIS Act 2016 for the harmonious development of the activities of standardisation, marking and quality certification of goods and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

 

Tiwari said it is being considered to make them mandatory like gold jewellery because, at small levels, people make jewellery by melting silver and bringing them in the ambit of mandatory certification is a big challenge. In its last week’s announcement, the BIS revised its hallmarking standard with the publication of IS 2112:2025, replacing the earlier IS 2112:2014 version.

 

The revision introduces Hallmarking Unique Identification (HUID)-based on silver jewellery and articles, enhancing traceability with the existing gold hallmarking system. Under the new system, consumers can identify article type, purity grade, hallmarking date, testing centre details and jeweller registration number of silver jewellery hallmarked after September 1, 2025, using BIS Care mobile application.