Mandatory silver hallmarking in the works to curb counterfeits as prices surge | Today News

New Delhi: After making gold hallmarking mandatory, the government is now preparing to extend it to silver, beginning with a pilot project in select districts, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

The move aims to help consumers verify purity and authenticity, and curb counterfeit silver jewellery in the market.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is planning to roll out the pilot with large jewellery makers, while simultaneously strengthening testing and certification infrastructure in the identified districts, its director general Sanjay Garg said.

Silver hallmarking has been voluntary since September. However, from September 2025, any silver article that is hallmarked must carry a hallmark unique identification (HUID), a six-digit alphanumeric code issued by the BIS. The pilot will help assess readiness ahead of a wider rollout.

The HUID code allows each piece of jewellery to be uniquely identified and traced, helping consumers ascertain purity, authenticity and the jeweller through the BIS Care app or portal.

As per consumer affairs ministry data, till 31 December 2025, over 23 lakh silver articles were hallmarked with HUID, reflecting strong uptake among jewellers and consumers.

“We are assessing the challenges faced during the rollout of mandatory gold hallmarking, and once those issues are addressed to our satisfaction, the framework will be taken forward,” Garg told Mint on the sidelines of 79th foundation of BIS.

“I cannot specify a timeline at this stage. There are also infrastructure-related issues, as silver hallmarking is different from gold, and the process is more tedious. As the required infrastructure becomes ready, mandatory silver hallmarking will be rolled out in a phased manner,” he said.

“The move to make silver hallmarking mandatory assumes significance as silver has increasingly emerged as an alternative to gold for investment and other uses, especially after prices of the white metal rose sharply in 2025. Mandatory hallmarking is expected to help check counterfeit products as silver consumption rises and is likely to increase further in the coming years,” said Ashim Sanyal, chief executive officer of Consumer Voice.

Silver had a phenomenal 2025, with prices surging over 150% during the year. At the start of 2025, silver prices hovered around ₹81,000 per kg. Prices continued to rise through the year, ending at around ₹2,06,000 per kg. So far in 2026, the metal has continued to see strong buying interest.

As per the India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA), the price of silver was ₹2,37,063 per kg on Tuesday.

India consumes around 5,000–7,000 tonnes of silver annually, of which 700–800 tonnes are mined domestically. The remaining 80–90% of demand is met through imports, mainly from the UK, the UAE, Hong Kong and Russia, among others.

Meanwhile, Union food and consumer affairs minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday asked the BIS to fast-track the development of new standards and modernise its testing laboratories to ensure the delivery of quality products and services to consumers.

Addressing the 79th foundation day of BIS, Joshi said that while the regulator has been effective in enforcing quality norms, it must now focus on creating an ecosystem where industry itself refrains from producing substandard goods. He said that quality is central to India’s ambition to become a global manufacturing hub under the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives.

The minister added that the BIS mark has emerged as a symbol of trust across sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and technology, and stressed that quality standards should be viewed as a competitive advantage rather than a compliance burden.

Meanwhile, jewellery is the single largest end use of silver, accounting for about 35% of total consumption, while silverware contributes another 15–20%.

In the case of mandatory gold hallmarking, over 58 crore gold items have been hallmarked since 2021, averaging more than one crore pieces per month.

Earlier, Mint reported on 25 September 2025 that as India entered its peak festival and wedding season, the government moved to restrict imports of plain silver jewellery to protect domestic manufacturers and safeguard jobs in the sector amid high demand.

India’s jewellery sector, which employs over 4.3 million people, typically sees a surge in production and retail activity during festival and wedding months.

India’s jewellery industry is one of the country’s most important sectors, both culturally and economically. The market was valued at $90.4 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach $150.1 billion by 2033, according to IMARC, a consulting firm. The sector accounts for around 7% of India’s GDP and about 15% of the country’s merchandise exports.

Alongside this, BIS is also working to enhance consumer-facing tools to improve access to genuine products. Garg said the BIS mobile application is being upgraded with AI-based features that will allow consumers to identify ISI-marked products across different categories with a single click, making it easier to verify authenticity and standards compliance at the point of purchase.

The app will include features that allow consumers to query, through the BIS Care app, the number of ISI-marked products available in a particular category. For instance, if a consumer visits a shop to buy kitchen utensils, they can use the app to get a brand-wise list of ISI-marked products available in a specific area of a city, such as Sarojini Nagar or other localities in Delhi. This is aimed at making it easier for consumers to identify genuine, standards-compliant products before making a purchase.

“The key objective of this initiative is to make consumers aware of genuine products and help them make informed decisions while purchasing goods for their use,” Garg said.

He also said the regulator has issued a notification covering lab-grown diamonds, and work is underway to develop standards for the segment. These standards will be entirely voluntary in nature. The BIS has also framed standards for agarbatti, and the official expects wider industry participation once larger players receive licences.