New Delhi, Sept. 25 -- In the run-up to the festival season, the consumer affairs department is planning to publish a list of BIS-registered silver retailers on its website and advertise it through state governments, two government officials directly involved in the process told Mint. Against the backdrop of mandatory silver jewellery hallmarking, likely to start in October, the plan also involves making it mandatory for e-commerce platforms to clearly disclose whether silver products sold on their platforms are hallmarked by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), they said. Currently, around 25,000 silver retailers are registered with BIS, and the proposed government-backed list would provide consumers with an official reference to identify registered sellers. India consumes around 7,000 tonnes of silver annually, with only about 800 tonnes produced domestically. Jewellery accounts for around 35% of India's silver consumption, while silverware contributes another 15-20%. "There will be a detailed, district-level list of registered retailers as well as manufacturers, so that consumers can easily identify registered sellers and purchase silver articles from them with greater assurance about the genuineness of the product," said the second official. "This will also encourage more retailers and manufacturers to register with BIS, as they would not want to lose customers to registered sellers. Consumers will also know that when they buy a silver product from a registered retailer, it has been sourced through a regulated system," the official added. "If any impurity or other problem is found later, consumers can seek redress under the Consumer Protection Act. However, when silver items are purchased from unregistered sellers, consumers may face challenges in establishing the value and purity of the product and seeking redress in case of any dispute," the person said. Unlike gold, where mandatory hallmarking has been in place since June 2021, silver hallmarking has so far remained voluntary....