Bureau of Indian Standards Considers Mandatory Silver Hallmarking

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is examining the regulatory framework and infrastructure readiness required to make hallmarking of silver jewellery and artefacts mandatory, Director General Sanjay Garg said on Thursday.

Silver hallmarking has been voluntary since 2005 and from September 2025 onwards, hallmarked silver articles carry a Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number, enabling buyers to verify purity.

"Silver hallmarking is far more complex than gold, not in terms of process but the kind of market it has," Garg told PTI on the sidelines of a Ficci event here.

Unlike gold, silver jewellery and artefacts are sold across both small and large stores, and the category even extends to silver furniture, he noted.

"We are studying the implementation process," he said.

According to Garg, the entire hallmarking operation within BIS is run by just five people, with the rest of the workforce either private or outsourced.

"Operating hallmarking centres with the help of private players and building trust is a Herculean task," he said.

Despite significant progress in voluntary silver hallmarking, BIS is proceeding cautiously.

"We are going intentionally a bit slow as we don't want to make mistakes. We want to set the systems right before making it mandatory," Garg said.

"We will do mandatory silver hallmarking gradually," he added.

The number of silver jewellery articles hallmarked has increased to 59 lakh in the 2025-26 fiscal from over 32 lakh articles in 2024-25, as per official data.

Presently, there are around 230 Assaying and Hallmarking Centres (AHCs) recognised by BIS for testing of silver jewellery.