HUID will help track where gold is going: Indian Association of Hallmarking

Hyderabad: While jewellers across the country protested against the Hallmarking Unique ID (HUID) on Monday, the Hallmarkers say this new rule is a very good move by the Centre as it will track where gold is going.

The Hallmarkers say the proposed system by the Centre was not to monitor. They point out that a huge quantity of gold is imported into the country, but there is a huge difference when it comes to actual business transacted. Talking to The Hans India, the secretary of Indian Association of Hallmarking Prakash Patil said, "The move was good for people. The government would also get exact tax on each item. However, this will be an added expense for the small businessmen."

He said that every year about 900 tonnes of gold comes into the country. As per data only 225 tonnes is accounted for. No one knows where the remaining gold is going. "This is not monitoring of the business, but this is tracking down gold coming into the country. There is no need to get afraid if the business is done legally," he stated, adding the HUID has been taken as a method to trace the gold reaching the end customer.

On problems of jewellers, Patil said, "The listing of items would be a time-consuming process. There are 900 centres across the country. If we are doing 1,200 items a day, we can do half of the items because of the hallmarking of every piece. Because the system is new, there will be problems with servers. If a jeweller gives an item today, he has to wait for four-five days to get hallmark done. Since the system is new, it is taking time, they are against HUID, opined Patil.