BIS Registration for Jewellers

In India, jewellery has different importance, and it has a special place in people’s hearts. It has to be unique for every festival and occasion. It adds value to their sentiments. Thus, they are cautious as a customer about the purity of each piece of jewellery, and they look for BIS registration for jewellers every time they buy jewellery, be it at any price or from any place. Every jewellery requires registration which certifies its purity.

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is a regulatory body that grants registration under the provisions of the BIS Act, 2016, along with BIS (Hallmarking) Regulations, 2018.  

Bureau of Indian Standards

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is a National Standard Body which is established under BIS Act, 2016 in India. It is established for standardization, making and certification of the goods and other matters similar thereto and also for their mutual development. It provides safe, reliable quality goods, minimize health problems and risk to customers, promotes export and import and controls the proliferation of varieties through standardization, testing and quality certification.

BIS tests the product and then issues a standard mark which gives the conformity for safety and quality of such products when printed or embossed on them. These marks of BIS registration for jewellers, for metals like gold and silver, are commonly known as Hallmarks. 

BIS has issued several guidelines for grant, operation, renewal and cancellation of the certificate of BIS registration for jewellers. 

BIS Hallmarking Scheme 

The Government of India mandated the BIS^[1] to start hallmarking scheme for golds in 2000 and for silvers in 2005 to protect citizens of India from any adulteration and to obligate the jewellers for maintaining legal standards of purity. The BIS hallmarking scheme contains granting of registration of jewellers and recognition to Assaying and Hallmarking (A&H). 

Quality control order for hallmarking of gold was issued by the Government of India on the 15th of January 2020, and it shall be enforced from the 1st of June 2021. Now, it is mandatory for all jewellers who are selling gold to register with BIS and have hallmarked golds only in grades of 14, 18 and 22 carats. 

Hallmarks are certificates to confirm that the gold and silver sold by the jewellers are genuine. A jeweller who wants to obtain such marks on his products has to apply for BIS registration for jewellers.  

Procedure for BIS Registration for jewellers

A jeweller is required to obtain a BIS Registration for his outlet or premises to run the business related to hallmarked gold jewellery. The registration is granted to the jewellers when the application is in the prescribed format, along with all the requisite documents and the fees and signing of the agreement for license by both BIS and the jeweller. For hallmarked silver jewellery, the jeweller has to obtain another BIS registration by filling out a different application. 

After the grant of registration or license, one has to follow the terms and conditions mentioned under the agreement. Any deviation in purity and non-conformations of these terms and conditions or other guidelines will result in the cancellation of BIS registration for jewellers and may attract penalties initiated by the BIS.

Corporate License 

Under the hallmarking scheme of BSI, the jewellers are required to obtain registration for the sale of hallmarked articles/jewellery for each outlet they own, but a jeweller under the same management can obtain a corporate license to cover all the sales outlets he owns. Certain terms and conditions are applicable on such licenses, and some discounts are also available for the corporate registration fee. This Corporate License is for such jewellers who have five or more outlets.

The following steps need to be followed to obtain BSI registration for jewellers:

• Filing the online application form on Manak Portal.
• Uploading requisite documents
• Payment of appropriate fee
• If any correction is needed, this would be intimated to the applicant, and he has to make corrections within 14 days.
• If the application gets rejected, then the fee will not be refunded.
• The license will be granted within three days of submission of the application form. 

These same steps have to be followed for the renewal of BSI registration for jewellers, but the failure of renewal will not affect the validity of this registration as it is granted for a lifetime. 

Documents required BIS Registration 

The followings are the required documents for BSI registration for jewellers:

• The self-certified copy of any of the documents as proof of establishment of thefirm:
• Registration with the authority of the state government, or certificate of registration by the registrar of the company, or
• In the case of a partnership firm, a registered partnership deed, or
• In the case of a proprietorship, a certificate from the Chartered Accountant
• The self-certified copy of any of the documents as the proof of Firm’s premises:
• Registration with the authority of the state government, or
• Trade license, or
• VAT Registration/Sales Tax, or
• Income Tax assessment order, or
• Property tax receipt, or
• Rent agreement with last rent receipt, or
• Sale/lease deed, or
• Electricity bill, or
• Telephone bill, or
• Water bill, or
• Bank Statement/ passbook containing the details of address of the premises/ sales outlet.

These above-mentioned documents should not be older than three months.

• Any of the documents proofing the identity of the signatory on the applications:
• Aadhar Card, or
• PAN Card, or
• Driving License, or
• Voter Identity Card, or
• Passport, or
• Photo Bank ATM Card, or
• Photo Credit Card, or
• CGHS/ECHS photocard, or
• Arms license, or
• Ration/ PDS photo card, or
• Freedom Fighter photo card, or
• Identity card with photo issued by any gazetted officer, or
• Disability Card/ Handicapped Medical Certificate issued by State Government, or
• Photo Identity Card issued by Educational Institutions, or
• Kisaan Photo Passbook. 
• Additional Documents:
• Map indicating the location of the premises.
• An agreement on a non-judicial stamp of Rs. 100.

Fee Structure

Per outlet, the registration fee is Rs.2,000 in case of fresh as well as renewal of BIS registration for jewellers. 

Following is the fee structure for obtaining single license/registration and a corporate license:

• Fee for single registration:

Geographical locations of the jewellers

Fees if paid annually	Fees if paid in instalments
Cities with a population of 10 lakh or more   For jewellers with annual turnover less than 100 crores (50% discount)	Rs. 20,000   Rs. 10,000	Rs. 50,000   Rs 25,000
Cities with 3-10 lakh population	Rs. 2000	Rs. 5000
Cities with less than 3 lakh population	Rs. 1000	Rs. 2500

• Fee for Corporate License:

Number of outlets	Discounts (as per the geographical locations of the above-mentioned table)
5-25 outlets	10%
26-100 outlets	15%
More than 100 outlets	20%

Exemption from Hallmarking

The Government of India has exempted certain factories and small jewellers from obtaining BIS registration for jewellers:

• The jewellers who have an annual turnover of Rs. 40 lakhs 
• Any article with a weight less than 20 gm.
• An article meant for export that conforms to specifications required by the foreign buyer. 
• The jewellery for international exhibitions 
• The jewellery for domestic business to business exhibitions as approved by government authorities
• Export and re-import of jewellery as per the trade policy of the Indian Government
• An article in the gold thread
• The article in the course of consignment from outside India to an Assaying and Hallmarking Centre in India as per BIS (Hallmarking) Regulations, 2018. 
• Gold bullion in any shape, such as bar, plate, sheet, coil, strip, foil, wire or tube.
• Special jewellery like Kundan, Polki and Jadaau.
• A gold watch and fountain pen.
• An article used for medical, industrial or scientific purposes.
• Any article which is manufactured but not substantially complete and intended to be further manufactured. 

Conclusion 

The BIS registration for jewellers is granted as assurance that the jewellery being sold is pure and out of any adulteration. It is for the protection of customers and also helpful to the jewellers as it is certification of purity of their products. A marking is done by BIS, which is either done by laser or punching. The Government has now made the provisions stating that the BIS registration is mandatory for all jewellers. Any jeweller wishing to obtain the registration can apply online on the Manak online portal of BSI. If the guidelines provided are not followed, then registration can be cancelled by BSI.

Read our Article:BIS Registration Process- A Step by Step Guide