Handmade certification in India is mainly Craftmark, a mark run by the All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association (AIACA), while a GI tag is a legal registration tied to a product and its place of origin. They answer different questions: how was it made, and where does it come from.
Neither tells you that a piece is safe, well plated or free of nickel, so treat them as claims about craft and origin only.
What is Craftmark?
AIACA describes Craftmark as a mark that identifies genuine Indian handmade crafts produced in a socially responsible way. It is licensed to craft businesses, cooperatives and NGOs, and in published material the programme certifies production processes, with periodic recertification. Confirm current rules with AIACA directly, as these details can change.
Most Rajkot imitation jewellery is cast, stamped and plated using machines and moulds, mixed with hand finishing and setting. The distinction is covered in handmade vs machine-made imitation jewellery. A workshop that makes some pieces by hand may not hold a mark for the whole range.
What is a GI tag?
A Geographical Indication is registered under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. It protects the name of a product with qualities linked to a region, and a registration is valid for ten years and can be renewed. It belongs to the product and region, not to one factory.
Some Indian crafts hold GI status, and a seller using the name for goods made elsewhere can be challenged. Before using a GI-protected name in a listing, look up the register on the government site and check whether the product you are buying qualifies.
How do you verify a handmade claim?
Do not rely on a logo alone. Use these checks:
- Ask for the current licence or certificate and check the holder name matches the workshop.
- Confirm which products or processes the certificate covers.
- Visit or have us audit the workshop and watch the pieces being made.
- Match your wording to what you saw, for example hand-set rather than handmade if only setting is manual.
Do you need either?
For most imitation ranges, no. A transparent description of the process is more useful than a mark. Use a certificate only where it supports a premium, artisan-led story that your customers care about.
How should you describe handmade pieces to customers?
Use specific verbs. Hand-set, hand-finished, hand-painted or hand-strung say exactly what a person did. Handmade on its own suggests the entire piece was made without machines, which is rarely true of cast or stamped jewellery.
If a piece is truly made by hand from start to finish, such as wire-wrapped, beaded or crocheted work, you can say so, and a visit to the workshop will confirm it. See what silk thread jewellery is for a style that is often wholly hand-made.
Keep photos of the process from your audit. They support the claim if a customer or marketplace asks.
Next step
We check workshops in person and tell you what is handmade, what is machine-made and which wording is safe. Book a free sourcing review and send us the products in question.