How to check gold purity: BIS hallmark and HUID
A practical guide for buyers in India
When you pay the 22K rate, you should get 22K gold. Hallmarking is how you check. Since 1 April 2023, every piece of hallmarked gold jewellery sold in India must carry a unique six-character HUID code alongside the BIS mark. Items under 2 grams are exempt.
Hallmarking is mandatory by district, not everywhere
This surprises most buyers, and it is the thing worth knowing before you conclude that an unhallmarked piece means something is wrong.
Mandatory hallmarking has been rolled out in phases, district by district, since June 2021 — 256 districts in the first phase, then successively more. The most recent expansion, the seventh, took effect on 3 August 2026 and brought coverage to 392 districts across 26 states and union territories. India has roughly double that number of districts in total. The full phase-by-phase history, and how to check your own district, is on our hallmarking districts page.
The practical consequences:
- In a covered district, a registered jeweller selling you unhallmarked gold jewellery is not supposed to be doing so. Ask.
- In a district not yet covered, a jeweller is not obliged to hallmark, and unhallmarked stock is not by itself irregular. You can still ask for a hallmarked piece, and you should still get the purity tested.
- Coverage only ever expands, so a district that was outside the scheme a year ago may be inside it now. If it matters to a purchase, check the current notification rather than relying on this page.
We could not load the BIS site directly to confirm the district figure first-hand. It is corroborated across government and trade reporting, and the districts page cites each phase so you can check it yourself — the number only ever grows, so treat any figure you read anywhere as needing a date.
What is exempt
Beyond items under 2 grams, the scheme does not reach everything. Published summaries describe exemptions for articles where hallmarking is physically impractical — watches and fountain pens are the examples usually given — and separate provisions for export-oriented units. Jewellers trading only in districts outside the notified list are outside the requirement until their district is added.
The three marks to look for
A valid hallmark today has three parts, usually stamped together on an inside surface or the clasp:
- The BIS standard mark, the Bureau of Indian Standards logo.
- The purity grade, written as karat and fineness, for example 22K916.
- The HUID, a six-character alphanumeric code unique to that piece.
Older jewellery may carry the earlier style of hallmark, with an assaying centre mark and a jeweller's identification mark instead of a HUID. That jewellery remains valid to own and sell; the HUID rule applies to new sales.
What the purity numbers mean
| Mark | Karat | Gold content | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24K995 / 999 | 24K | 99.5–99.9% | Coins and bars |
| 22K916 | 22K | 91.6% | Most traditional Indian jewellery |
| 20K833 | 20K | 83.3% | Some regional jewellery |
| 18K750 | 18K | 75% | Diamond and stone-set jewellery |
| 14K585 | 14K | 58.5% | Lightweight and everyday pieces |
24K gold is too soft to hold its shape as jewellery, so necklaces and bangles are almost always 22K or lower. The "916" you may hear jewellers mention simply refers to 22K gold.
Check today's rate before you check the hallmark
Purity only tells you half of what you are paying for; the other half is the rate on the day. Live 22K, 24K and 18K rates are on our city pages for Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Kochi, and every rate we have recorded is listed on the gold price history page. How the karat rates are derived from the benchmark is set out in how we calculate gold rates.
How to verify a HUID
The Bureau of Indian Standards offers a free app, BIS CARE, available for Android and iOS. Open the "Verify HUID" option and type in the six-character code from the jewellery. The app shows the registered jeweller, the article type and the purity recorded when the piece was hallmarked. If the details do not match what you are being sold, ask the jeweller to explain before you pay. You can also file a complaint through the same app.
The HUID is very small. Ask the jeweller for a magnifying loupe; most counters keep one.
If the HUID does not check out
A code that returns nothing, or returns details that do not match the piece in front of you — a different purity, a different article type, a different jeweller — is a reason to stop and ask before paying, not after. A mismatch is not always fraud; data entry errors happen. But the jeweller should be able to account for it, and the answer should satisfy you.
If it does not, the BIS CARE app accepts complaints directly, through the same app you used to check the code. Keep the bill, and keep a photograph of the hallmark if you can get one.
Silver is different
Everything above concerns gold. Silver hallmarking in India is voluntary — a silver piece carrying no BIS mark is not thereby irregular, and you cannot read the absence of a mark as a warning sign the way you can with gold in a notified district. Our silver rate page covers this in more detail.
What to check on the bill
A proper bill should list, for each item: the gross and net weight, the purity, the gold rate per gram used, making charges shown separately, the value of any stones, the HUID, and GST.
The weights are where disputes usually start. Gross weight includes stones, beads and any lac or filler; net weight is the gold alone. You should be charged the gold rate on the net weight only — stones are priced separately and are worth nothing like gold per gram. If a bill shows only one weight for a stone-set piece, ask for the breakdown before paying. The same applies when you come back to sell it. Comparing the gold rate on your bill with the day's benchmark on our gold rate page tells you how much premium the jeweller is charging on the metal itself.
Selling or exchanging gold
When you sell or exchange old jewellery, the jeweller will usually test purity (often with an XRF machine, which does not damage the piece) and pay based on the tested purity and the day's rate, minus a deduction. Hallmarked pieces with a verifiable HUID are generally easier to sell at a fair value. Ask for the test result in writing.
This guide gives general information and is not legal or financial advice. Rules can change, so check the latest guidance from the Bureau of Indian Standards (bis.gov.in) before a large purchase.