Indians continue to be obsessed with gold, which yields no return. Thus I feel that the government should introduce standardisation of gold jewellery sold in India to protect consumers. In developed countries, jewellers have to issue a certificate to the consumer guaranting the purity of jewellery bought where as in India the situation is totally different.

Consumers believe purity is shine-based and this isn't true at all. I came across people who were unhappy on the quality of gold jewellery even when bought from reputed jewellers. Thye realise this when they sell and discover the purity difference, which is a loss for them.

For example take the value of 24 carats of gold as Rs 4,000 per 10 grams. As gold is soft in its puriest state, mining of silver and copper is done, thus jewellery is in 18, 21 or 22 carats. If aconsumer buys jewellery, say 22 carats, costing Rs 3666.66 per 10 grams and if the jeweller cheats and reduces the purity to 20 carats,what would be the loss to the consumer?The consumer loses RS 666.66 per 10 gms. It works like this, the consumer makes a buying loss of Rs 333.33 per 10 grams as the cost of 20 carats is Rs 3333.33 per 10 gms and makes a similar loss while selling the gold. Add to this the making charges at the time of buying the jewellery.

Thus the government should protect the consumers from such chetaing which is common.

It is not true that the exact purity level cannot be achieved otherwise all export orders would have been rejected. Recently a company has been stressing on its purity level and has had great appreciation in its sales. Thus the government should impose heavy penalties on jewellers who do not fulfill the criteria of having the same purity as the stamp.

(The author is a researcher with a leading commodity trading firm in Mumbai)