All that Glitter is Not Gold : Know about BIS Hallmark

Hallmarking is the accurate determination and official recording of the proportionate content of precious metal in precious metal (gold or silver) articles. Hallmarks are thus official marks used in many countries as a guarantee of purity or fineness of precious metal (gold or silver) articles

Provide third party assurance and satisfaction that customer gets right purity of gold (or silver) for the given price (value for money)

Gold Hallmark consists of following

a) BIS mark

b) Purity grades/fineness

 958 Corresponds to 23 Carat

 916 Corresponds to 22 Carat

 875 Corresponds to 21 Carat

 750  Corresponds to 18 Carat

 708  Corresponds to 17 Carat

 585 Corresponds to 14 Carat

 375  Corresponds to 9 Carat 

c)Assaying/Hallmarking Centre’s Identification Mark (one of the logos as

displayed on BIS website)

d) Year of Marking – denoted by a code letter e.g.

‘A’ for year 2000 ‘B’ for year 2001

‘C’ for year 2002 ‘D’ for year 2003

‘E’ for year 2004 ‘F’ for year 2005

‘G’ for year 2006 ‘H’ for year 2007

‘J’ for year 2008

'P' for year 2012

'Q' for year 2013

'R' for year 2014

'S' for year 2015 and so on

e) Jeweler’s Identification Mark 

 How much does it cost to get an gold article hallmarked?

 BIS recognized Assaying and hallmarking Centres have been advised to follow the

following hallmarking charges for Gold:

1) Rs. 18/- per article

2)  Minimum charges for a consignment shall be Rs. 100/- .

 (Services Tax and other levies as applicable shall be extra). 

How much does it cost to get an silver article hallmarked?

A. BIS recognized Assaying and hallmarking Centres have been advised to follow the

following hallmarking charges for Silver:

1) Rs. 10.00 per article upto 100 g

2) Rs 50.00 per article from 100 -500g

3) Rs 100.00 per article more than 500g

4) Minimum charges per consignment is Rs 150.00

 (Services Tax and other levies as applicable shall be extra)