Gold traders in Gujarat have protested the Central government's decision to hallmark gold, saying the hallmarking procedure is complicated and costly.

Some 5,000 gold jewellery traders and small-scale gold units from Saurashtra in Gujarat have formed an association. They said they will reject the hallmarking mandate because of overburdening of licence fees and complications in procedure.

Rajkot Gold Jewellery Traders Association president Balwant Badani said that the licence fees for hallmarking is higher and cannot be afforded by the traders.

"We request the government not to enforce hallmarking on us," Badani told Commodity Online.

He said the hallmarking fee has been earmarked at Rs 8,000 per year plus service tax for each trader. Out of about 5,000 traders, hardly 120 traders have received the hallmark for their gold trading.

Badani said the traders in Saurashtra will not attend a seminar that is being organised by Bureau of Indian Standard in Ahmedabad for Gujarat gold jewellery traders. BIS is India's apex government body on matters concerning standardization, certification and quality.

Hallmarking of gold jewellery recommends purity for gold jewellery buying. BIS says it is trying to provide purity and uniformity in gold jewellery to customers India so as to provide 22 carat gold to customers.

According to BIS, hallmarking is an attempt to ensure better consumer protection in the backdrop of increasing consumption of gold in the country.

BIS has proposed to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place in the form of recognised gold assaying and hallmarking centres in India in the next couple of years.

Already, the Central government has allocated Rs 300 crore for setting up assaying and hallmarking centres across the country.

Though the hallmarking certification of gold scheme was launched in 2000 with the objective of protecting the interests of consumers and improving the brand equity of Indian jewellery in the international market, not many jewellers have come forward to apply for licence under the scheme.

Gold traders in Gujarat say the procedure for hallmarking of gold jewelleries is complicated and not easy for a village-based trader.

Said Kanti Ranpara, a leading trader: "Many traders are illiterate and don't know procedures. Therefore, the chances are that they might fall prey to the administration staff."