Commerce Ministry proposal seeks clarity in gold, silver trade

Sharesansar, May 29:

A new proposal drafted by the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies has sought to end the shadowy nature of bullion trade in lack of standards defining the quality of gold, silver, diamond and jewelries and other things made from them. The proposal categorizes gold, silver and diamond based on their purity.

Gold and jewelries made out of gold should always be measured in carats and must match the purity percentage, the proposal states.

The proposal requires that 24 carat gold jewelries be 99.9 percent pure, 22 carat 91.6 percent pure and 18 carat 75 percent pure. Likewise, the purity level for 14, 12 and 9 karats gold has been set at 58.33, 50 and 37.5 respectively. Similarly, silver and items made from silver must be measured in sterling and have 99.9 percent purity. Diamond, on the other hand, has been termed as precious, semi-precious and synthetic.

The proposal has asked for a total ban on using metals such as cadmium, lead and mercury while making gold and silver jewelries. Besides, when metals other than the banned ones are used, jewelers will have to declare the name of the metal and quantity used.

Other details that traders will have to clearly state are the maximum retail price (MRP) of readymade jewelries, the cost of making, quantity and price of the additives used and so on.