Goldsmiths 'losing out' to big jewellers in India

The growing popularity of machine-made gold jewellery is having a detrimental effect on goldsmiths in northern India.

This is the assertion of Bachhoo Singh, a goldsmith in Agra, India, who believes that he and his ilk are gradually being disposed of in favour of man-made methods.

Speaking to the Indian Zee News, Mr Singh outlined his fears for the industry and described the future as "bleak" due to lack of money to rival the large scale manufacturing methods favoured by many firms.

Mr Singh explained: "We do not have enough money to set up our own plants, neither do we have enough gold to hire people to work for us besides the expenditure involved in making gold ornaments has also risen."

In a further blow to the goldsmiths industry, the Indian Standards Bureau recently introduced the hallmarking of gold, designed to cut down on the amount of low-quality gold flooding the market but this has meant that more consumers will only use large retailers, according to Zee News.