Hallmarking Rules for Jewellers: HUID Explained

Selling gold jewellery in India now runs through a six-character alphanumeric code: the HUID (Hallmark Unique Identification). Mandatory hallmarking has rolled out district by district until it covers effectively the whole organised market, and jewellers who treat it casually face seized stock and cancelled registrations. For honest jewellers, though, the regime is simple, cheap and a trust machine. Here is the whole rulebook in one read.

What is mandatory, where

• Mandatory hallmarking covers gold jewellery and artefacts sold by jewellers in notified districts — the phased notifications now span nearly all districts with assaying infrastructure
• Permitted purities: hallmarking in declared caratages (14K, 18K, 20K, 22K, 23K, 24K per current rules) — selling non-hallmarked gold jewellery in covered districts is prohibited
• Exemptions: jewellers below the small-turnover threshold (₹40 lakh), export orders, certain articles (watches, fountain pens, specific medical/religious articles), and pieces under specified weight norms
• Silver hallmarking exists but remains voluntary (watch notifications)

The HUID system: how a piece gets its number

Every article goes to a BIS-recognised Assaying & Hallmarking (A&H) Centre, is tested for purity, and receives a laser-marked triad: the BIS logo, the purity/fineness mark, and the six-digit alphanumeric HUID unique to that piece. The HUID lives in BIS's database with the jeweller's and centre's details — consumers verify any piece in the BIS CARE app by typing the code. For the jeweller, the operational flow is: registration → send batches to the A&H centre with declarations → receive hallmarked stock with HUID listings → sell with the HUID recorded on the invoice.

Jeweller registration and duties

• One-time BIS registration (no recurring fee under current norms) per outlet via the BIS portal — turnover-slab based fees at registration
• Sell only hallmarked articles (in covered categories/districts); display the licence and the mandatory consumer notices
• Maintain records mapping stock to HUIDs; issue invoices describing articles with purity and hallmark particulars
• Buyback/exchange of old (pre-HUID) jewellery is permitted — melting or re-hallmarking routes handle legacy metal
• Cooperate with BIS market surveillance (sample draws from your counter are routine)

Old stock, exchanges and the consumer's rights

Legacy questions dominate real counters: old own-stock (pre-mandate) needed hallmarking before sale in covered districts — un-hallmarked display stock is the classic surveillance catch; customer old-gold exchange is fully permitted (consumers may sell/exchange non-hallmarked old jewellery; your outgoing sale must be hallmarked); and consumer disputes — a hallmarked article assaying below its marked fineness entitles the buyer to compensation (twice the shortfall value formulas apply) with the A&H chain accountable. Your protection is the same database: HUID-wise purchase records from centres, and invoices that tie every sale to its code.

Turning compliance into counter-sales

The jewellers gaining from HUID treat it as marketing: demonstrating the BIS CARE verification to customers at billing (nothing sells trust like a live database lookup), advertising 'every piece HUID-hallmarked', and using the invoice's purity line to end the old ambiguity that made buyers fear small jewellers. The regime's real effect is competitive: it removes the discount the unorganised market extracted through doubt. Be loudly compliant.

How Aidwish helps

Aidwish sets up jewellers end to end — BIS registration, A&H centre workflows, HUID-stock record formats and invoice templates, plus the adjacent stack (GST on jewellery, Legal Metrology for weights) — so the counter runs compliant at festival speed.