BIS raises gold hallmarking fee 67% to ₹75 per article ahead of festive season
The Bureau of Indian Standards has increased the gold hallmarking fee paid by jewellers to ₹75 per article from ₹45, effective 14 September 2026. The ₹30 increase could add to jewellers’ operating costs during the festive and wedding buying period; silver hallmarking charges remain unchanged.
What happened
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) · BIS has raised jewellers’ gold hallmarking fee to ₹75 per article from ₹45, effective 14 September 2026. The increase may be
Key facts
- Gold hallmarking fee: ₹75 per article, up from ₹45
- Increase: ₹30 per article (about 67%)
- Gold minimum consignment fee: ₹200
- Silver hallmarking fee: ₹35 per article
- Silver minimum consignment fee: ₹150
- AHC-to-BIS charge for gold: ₹7.50 per article; ₹20 minimum per consignment
- AHC-to-BIS charge for silver: ₹3.50 per article; ₹15 minimum per consignment
Why this matters
Higher mandatory compliance costs could strengthen the case for consolidation, as larger organised jewellers can spread hallmarking expenses across greater volumes more easily than smaller independents.
What to watch
- Festive-season gold jewellery unit-volume trends versus average selling price after 14 September 2026.
- Announcements of making-charge increases or surcharge additions by major organised jewellery chains.
- Changes in gold prices, which could dwarf the hallmarking impact but amplify affordability pressure.
- Evidence of a widening price gap between organised chains and local independent jewellers.
- Shift in sales mix toward heavier pieces, studded jewellery, coins, exchange-led purchases or lower-SKU collections.
- Any BIS clarification on fee applicability, exemptions, enforcement or additional hallmarking process requirements.
- Recalculate making charges and margin targets by weight band, with special attention to lightweight jewellery where ₹30 is a larger share of value.
- Evaluate whether to absorb the fee on high-ticket festive collections while passing through part of the cost on low-ticket, high-volume designs.
- Reduce duplicate and slow-moving SKUs to lower the number of articles requiring hallmarking and improve inventory turns.
- Use the regulatory change in marketing to reinforce authenticity, purity assurance and trust, especially for organised retail formats.
- Track competitor pricing, making-charge revisions and promotional intensity through the 14 September 2026 implementation date.
- Review vendor and job-worker contracts to determine whether hallmarking costs can be shared upstream without disrupting supply.