Plan to buy jewellery in India, the world’s largest gold consumer market? Beware! Chances are that jewellery labelled “22 carat gold” will have just 18 or 20 carats of the yellow metal.About 88 per cent of samples collected by the state-run Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in a survey early this year did not meet its quality specifications.“It’s a matter of concern that on such a large scale, consumers are not getting what they pay for,” a BIS director, Praveen Saxena, told Reuters. But most Indians, whose passion for gold lies in its glitter, are not complaining.“For me, good quality means the yellow metal does not become black after some time,” said Vijaylaxmi Srivastava, a manager at a stock trading firm. “As long as my jewellery shines, I will wear it.” Traders say jewellery turns black with time if it contains a high proportion of other metals. Gold demand in India is about 855 tonnes a year, more than double that of the second-largest market, the United States. Both men and women wear lavish jewellery and gold ornaments, and gold is an important part of Hindu marriages as parents believe it gives their daughters some financial security. Still, buyers have little knowledge of the purities and fewer laboratories exist in this vast country of more than a billion people to test gold quality. A scheme launched by BIS in 2000 to enable jewellers to hallmark their products at any of the 12 testing centres recognised by the bureau failed to take off because consumers hardly demand the authentication. “I trust my jeweller,” said Kamala Rawat, a housewife, echoing a common theme among unwary buyers who have stuck loyally to certain shops for generations.
