Jewellers in Lucknow protest Prime Minister Modi's appeal to defer gold purchases for a year amid the West Asia crisis, fearing significant business losses and economic hardship for those involved in the trade.
'Customers do not recover the original making charges paid on old jewellery. Sentimental value is lost when heirlooms are exchanged.'
With duties at 15%, GST at 3%, and making charges running as high as 20% -- the gap between a smart purchase and a careless one can easily be Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 on every Rs 1 lakh invested. And most of that gap is entirely avoidable. Ramalingam Kalirajan explains the math.
Those selling ornaments with lower purity might now offer hefty discounts in order to get rid of non-hallmarked stocks
'It has always been viewed as a hedge against inflation.'
The government on Thursday said nearly 7,000 jewellers have been granted hallmark licences after the quality standards, or hallmarking, for gold were launched in 2001.
Jewellers across the country will go on a 'token strike' on August 23 against the "arbitrary implementation" of mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery, All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) said on Friday. The strike will be supported by 350 associations and federations from all four zones of the entire gems and jewellery industry, the GJC claimed. Mandatory gold hallmarking has come into force from June 16 in a phased manner. The government has identified 256 districts from 28 states and union territories for the phase-1 implementation.
The government on Tuesday said it is fully prepared to implement mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts from June 1, 2021. Gold hallmarking is a purity certification of the precious metal and is voluntary in nature at present. The Centre, in November 2019, had announced that hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts would be made mandatory across the country from January 15, 2021.
Measure to be implemented in metros first, followed by state capitals, district HQs and rest of country
Consumers have to watch out for four marks on hallmarked gold jewellery: BIS mark, purity in carat, assay centre's name and jewellers' identification mark.
Gold hallmarking is a purity certification of the precious metal and is voluntary in nature at present.
India Bullion and Jewellers Association said, self-certification of coins by refineries contravenes the basic purpose of a certifying agency.
The government's move to make hallmarking for gold mandatory from January 1, 2008 has got into bottlenecks thanks to lukewarm response from jewelers across the country.
BIS proposes compulsory registration for selling hallmarked jewellery. This will kill business of online sales as BIS registration is given only to physical premises.
This festive season, silver is being reinvented from gemstone accents and heirloom-inspired decor to luxury gifts, blending tradition with modern design.
Lack of security provisions coupled with inadequate infrastructure and lukewarm response from jewellers have put the government decision of making hallmarking mandatory for gold from January 1, 2008 into uncertainties.
The hallmarking of gold, which is voluntary in nature at present, is a purity certification of the precious metal.
The Bill to amend the Bureau of Indian Standards Act has been passed.
Harshit Bansal, founder of Renani Jewels in Meerut, India, has broken the dazzling Guinness World Records title for the most diamonds set in one ring -- 12,638.
Dhanteras has cheered up jewellers as it has turned out to be the best in three years, thanks to the lower price of the yellow metal and pent-up demand. In Mumbai's Zaveri bazaar, buyers came in out force and jewellers did not have to depend on freebies to induce sales, even though all of them had announced some offers. In fact, more discounts were announced for diamond and studded jewellery.
Jewellers in India, the world's second largest gold consuming country after China, have started receiving more inquiries for purchase of gold or silver immediately after the Reserve Bank's announcement to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes from circulation. However, there is no panic buying of the precious metal unlike the situation witnessed in 2016 during demonetisation, jewellers body GJC said on Sunday. In fact in the last two days, the actual gold purchase has been less in exchange of Rs 2,000 notes due to strict Know your Customer (KYC) norms although sources said some jewellers have started charging a 5-10 per cent premium, taking the gold prices to Rs 66,000 per 10 grams level.
The trigger for international gold prices rising to $3,000 per ounce was Germany's upcoming heavy government borrowing.
The industry body has issued two advisories in an attempt to restore jewellers credibility in the wake of the Rs 12,000-crore PNB-Nirav Modi scam, and recent defaults by two domestic jewellers - Goodwin and Rasiklal.
Seventy years after Pather Panchali released on August 26, 1955, we finally get it. Shuttling between the village of Boral and a studio in Calcutta, caught between worrying about the next purse of funds and wondering which item to mortgage next, Satyajit Ray was explaining Indians to themselves, discovers Sreehari Nair.
Shantibhai Patel, president, Gems and Jewellery Trade Council of India, said jewellers in small towns have to pay Rs 10,000 for three years as licence fee, while in major cities this fee Rs 20,000 at present.
Here's why consumers are shifting to large brands.
As the shift from hand-crafted to machine-made ornaments did not serve the purpose, with neither the cost of machine-made jewellery declining nor jewellers finding innovative designs, the industry goes back to 'hand-crafted' ornaments for both domestic and overseas buyers, reports Dilip Kumar Jha.
Amazon India has witnessed an 84 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in sales of hallmarked gold jewellery and posted a 5-fold spike in demand during the first two days of its ongoing Amazon Great Indian Festival (AGIF) sale event, which started on September 27. This demand is for brands such as Malabar Gold and Diamonds, PN Gadgil Jewellers, Joyalukkas, PC Chandra and KISNA, among others. According to current trends, customers buy fine jewellery starting at Rs 2,000 in the silver category and shell out up to Rs 40,000 for gold and diamond jewellery. In the last year, Amazon has seen more customers opt for 14 Karat purity.
Gold and silver became costlier in the country following the international price rise over the expectations of negative interest rates in the US, the rising trade tensions between the US and China and the weakening of the rupee.
If hallmarking data are anything to go by, the proportion of spurious jewellery in the country might have shrunk significantly in the past five years.
Dealers anticipated a sharp rise in jewellery demand this wedding season, but then came demonetisation.
'It is the best avenue for investors who would like to take long-term exposure to gold.'
The success stems from Titan's betting hard on wedding jewellery over the last three years. It now contributes 20 per cent to revenue.
Only three or four tonnes is estimated to have been mobilised under the scheme.
The scheme calls for banks, refineries and hallmarking centres to work together.
The scheme is yet to take off.
Gold, which lost its sheen to some extent in the second half of 2021, is likely to regain the glitter in the New Year and cross the Rs 55,000-per-10-grams level amid pandemic woes, inflation worries and stronger US dollar. After a stellar run up in 2020 when the yellow metal touched a record high of Rs 56,200 on the MCX in August, the prices are near Rs 48,000 per 10 grams now. This is roughly 14 per cent lower from the all-time highs and 4 per cent lesser compared to January 2021 levels.
Gold demand in rural India is expected to be lower this year with weak monsoon affecting household savings, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).
Why millennials are choosing silver over gold this Valentine's Day.
Jewelers also want import duty on gold to be reduced from the current 10 per cent to at least 5 per cent.
