BIS Care mobile app helps in instant verification of gold jewellery's purity

New Delhi: In a move aimed at keeping a check on the substandard gold products, the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) has developed a mobile-based application to keep a track of all ISI and hallmark-certified pieces of jewellery made of the precious metal. The mobile-based application has been christened as 'BIS Care App' and it helps a customer in instant verification of the purity of the hallmarked gold jewellery.

As per a senior official, the purpose of the BIS-created app is to protect the interest of customers and ensure quality products to customers. "The customers need to enter the 6 digit Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number of the gold jewellery in the app and they would get all the details related to the manufacturing of the product," the officials said, adding that the app has been created to ensure the purity of the product.

"It's very common practice in rural as well as urban markers that customers are being befooled by the goldsmiths by selling substandard gold products. The app has been developed during the course of reviewing the complaints about the purity of gold items. It was found that customers were being sold 18-carat gold jewellery at the price of 22 carats," the official said, adding that the app wouldn't let this happen anymore.

"The moment you enter the 6-digit HUID number, which is alphanumeric, you will get the details of a jeweller who has hallmarked the product, registration number of the jeweller, name of assessing centre, number of assessing centre, location of assessing centre, details of the item purchased, hallmarking date and purity of the gold, the official said, adding that the mobile app is compatible with android-supported phones and easily available at play store.

Notably, the government has made hallmarking a must in 256 markets across the country. According to the Department of Consumer Affairs website, the hallmark consists of 3 symbols that give you information related to the purity of the gold as the first symbol is the BIS logo, the second symbol indicates purity and fineness and the third symbol is the HUID.