If you enjoy buying gold or are planning to get jewellery made for a wedding at home, this news is important for you. The government has taken a major step to stop the sale of fake and adulterated gold.
To do this, it has issued a new rule called the Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery and Gold Artefacts (Amendment) Order, 2026. This order will affect how gold jewellery is sold in many cities across India.
According to a report by Zee Business shown on December 23, the government has expanded the scope of hallmarking to better protect buyers. The aim is to ensure that customers get a proper guarantee of the purity of the gold they purchase.
Government Expands Mandatory Hallmarking
Under the new order, hallmarking of gold jewellery has been made mandatory in many more districts across the country. This means it will now be much harder for anyone to sell gold jewellery without a hallmark in these areas.
Hallmarking confirms the purity of gold and usually carries the **Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) mark. With the expansion of this rule, customers will have greater assurance that the gold they buy is genuine and of the correct purity.
The order came into effect immediately after it was published in the official gazette.
Why Hallmarking Is Now More Important
Because of this new rule, hallmarking has become even more important when buying gold jewellery. It helps protect buyers from losses caused by fake or low-carat gold.
The government has clearly stated that selling gold without a BIS hallmark will now be considered a legal offense in many newly added districts. This means jewellers in those areas must sell only hallmarked jewellery.
Districts Where the Rule Will Apply
The government has released a long list of districts where this rule will now be enforced. People living in these areas will only be able to buy hallmarked gold jewellery.
Uttar Pradesh: 27 major districts including Agra, Aligarh, Ayodhya, Bareilly, Basti, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Kanpur Nagar, Lucknow, Meerut, Moradabad, Prayagraj, Saharanpur and Varanasi.
Bihar: 25 districts such as Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Purnia and Ara (Bhojpur).
Delhi: All 8 districts including North, South, East, West and New Delhi.
Haryana: 20 districts including Gurugram, Faridabad, Ambala, Hisar, Rohtak and Panchkula.
Rajasthan: 20 districts including Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Ajmer, Bikaner and Udaipur.
Madhya Pradesh: 16 districts including Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Ujjain and Sagar.
Uttarakhand: Dehradun, Haridwar, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar.
Apart from these, the list also includes many major districts in Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and several states in South India. The main objective of the government is to ensure that buyers across the country get certified and pure gold when they purchase jewellery.
