Kolkata: Impure silver bars and coins are flooding the Indian market as counterfeiters seek to exploit a sharp rise in prices of the precious metal and robust investment demand.
This has led precious metal refiners to urge the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for enforcing mandatory hallmarking of silver products to safeguard consumers. They have also sought compulsory licensing for silver refiners to ensure stricter quality control and greater transparency in the trade.
While silver hallmarking has been made mandatory from September 2025, a large section of jewellers aren’t following it, according to industry executives.
James Jose, president of the Precious Metals Refineries Forum, said a large share of silver bars and coins available in retail markets are of substandard quality and don’t meet the asset-class fineness standard of 999 purity with certified BIS hallmarking.
“Field-level studies have indicated that a majority of the silver articles available in the market contain prohibited elements such as nickel, cadmium and lead,” he said. “At present, much of the new silver jewellery is manufactured from scrap silver without adequate refining. A certain quantity of purified silver bullion is mixed with the scrap merely to achieve the required fineness level.”
Jaipur, Agra, Salem, Rajkot, Kolhapur, and Cuttack are among the country’s leading silver jewellery and artefact manufacturing hubs.
Despite India consuming nearly 7,000 tonnes of silver annually, the number of assaying and hallmarking centres for the metal is just 286, compared with 1,595 centres for gold, whose annual consumption is much lower at around 800–850 tonnes.
Jose said the issue of prohibited elements such as lead and cadmium—commonly found in scrap silver—finding their way into new jewellery could be addressed by creating a wide network of BIS-licensed silver refineries. More than 50% of silver sold in the country is in the form of articles such as worship items, lamps, and utensils.
The body also noted that offerings of pure silver at temples are often found to be of substandard quality. It said the availability of hallmarked silver bars from certified silver refineries could help address these concerns and improve quality standards in the market.
Meanwhile, exchanges such as the MCX, BSE, and NSE are preparing to introduce quality-certified silver bars through their respective commodity platforms.
“India needs world-class silver refineries to supply asset-class silver bars to the commodity exchanges,” said Jose. Several BIS-licensed gold refineries are also engaged in silver refining and are keenly awaiting the introduction of a BIS licensing scheme for silver, he said.
