The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is set to scale up the testing of silver jewellery as demand shifts from gold amid a spike in prices. As per a senior BIS official, the referral and assay laboratories for silver will expand nationally within two years.
“Last year, we introduced HUID for as well, and demand is increasing. We have taken stock of the requirements and are ready to take up silver jewellery testing in a big way in our laboratories,” BIS Deputy Director General (Laboratories) Nishat S Haque told PTI.
“We will be able to handle the requirement within our own labs for roughly the next two years. Within that period, we will be expanding referral and assay laboratories across the country,” she said.
Notably, the silver hallmarking has been voluntary since 2005. From September 2025 onwards, the hallmarked silver articles carry a Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number, enabling buyers to verify purity.
As per the data, the number of silver jewellery articles hallmarked rose to 5.9 million in the 2025-26 fiscal year from 3.2 million in 2024-25. Currently, there are currently around 230 Assaying and Hallmarking Centres recognised by BIS for testing silver jewellery.
Nishat S Haque told PTI that the BIS has set close to 23,000 standards in total, of which about 700 are mandatory, and the laboratory network will keep expanding to match the load. She cited the recent empanelments for CCTV security, power-transmission-line and petrochemical testing.
Haque further told that the BIS tested nearly 270,000 product samples in the past year, as its laboratory network has expanded sharply to meet rising certification demand.
BIS now operates 10 of its own laboratories nationwide, backed by a wider network of recognised private and empanelled government labs built under a Laboratory Recognition Scheme introduced in 1985.
“In 2014 we had around 147 recognised laboratories and only 24 government laboratories empanelled with us. Today we are having 440 recognised laboratories and 350 empanelled laboratories,” Haque said.