How to read a hallmark before you pay

Since 2021 every piece of hallmarked gold jewellery sold in India carries a six-digit HUID — a unique identity number for that specific item, not that design. You can type it into the BIS Care app and see the piece's registered purity and the jeweller who declared it. If a seller cannot produce the HUID, the piece is not hallmarked, whatever the sticker says.

Alongside the HUID you should find three more marks: the BIS lozenge, the purity in both karat and fineness (22K916, 18K750, 14K585), and the jeweller's identification mark. On a small pendant these are laser-etched and genuinely tiny — ask for a loupe, and be suspicious of anyone reluctant to hand you one.

Purity is not quality. A 22K chain and an 18K chain are both honestly described; 18K is harder and holds stones more securely, which is why almost every diamond setting you will see is 18K rather than 22K. Choosing 18K for a solitaire is a structural decision, not a compromise.

One last habit worth building: photograph the hallmark and the certificate together on the day you buy. Insurance claims and resale valuations both go faster when you can produce that pair.