Barring big corporates, most jewellery shops remained shut on Monday in response to a nationwide strike call given by 350-odd jewellery associations to protest the new gold hallmarking rules of the Centre, All India Gem Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) said.
The jewellery bodies are against the government’s Hallmarking Unique ID (HUID) system which they said has nothing to do with the purity of gold but is just a tracking mechanism. Speaking with PTI, All India Gem Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) Director Dinesh Jain said, “There has been a very strong response to a nationwide strike against the HUID system. Shops are closed for a day.”
Big corporates in the jewellery sector never participate in such strikes. Mostly individual and family-run jewellery shops in all four zones are shut for a day, he said.
However, in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, shops were shut till 12.30 pm due to the Onam festival, he said.
Jain also said the protesting jewellers will make a representation to district collectors against the gold hallmarking rules.
Mandatory gold hallmarking, a purity certification of the precious metal, has come into force from June 16 in a phased manner. The government has identified 256 districts from 28 states and union territories for the phase-1 implementation.
