IFSCA: Good Delivery Guidelines set gold sourcing standards

The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) issued its Good Delivery Guidelines on 15 October 2026, setting quality and responsible sourcing standards for gold refiners seeking accreditation from the bullion exchange in an International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). The guidelines took effect immediately and cover both Indian and overseas refiners.^[1]

The framework makes accreditation depend on technical standards, gold quality and responsible sourcing, rather than the physical characteristics of the metal alone. The bullion exchange must certify eligible refiners and empanel independent auditors to conduct third-party audits.^[1]

IFSCA issued the guidelines under regulation 2(1)(r), regulation 12(1) and regulation 67 of the IFSCA (Bullion Market) Regulations, 2025. Their scope includes refiners established or operating in India, including Special Economic Zones and IFSCs, overseas applicants, and refiners already accredited by the exchange.^[1]

The authority said the framework seeks to create a transparent and orderly bullion market and support India’s ambition to become an influence on global bullion prices. That is the stated policy objective, not a finding that the guidelines have already changed India’s position in the market.^[1]

Accreditation covers the metal and its source

Under the guidelines, an accredited refiner is a refinery certified by the bullion exchange as meeting the prescribed technical, quality and responsible sourcing requirements. Certification provides the basis for recognising gold produced by that refinery as Good Delivery Gold.^[1]

“Good Delivery” is the standard governing whether gold qualifies for delivery in the relevant market. IFSCA’s definition brings together manufacturing quality and technical standards prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards and the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories, alongside the guidelines’ responsible sourcing requirements. Gold manufactured in accordance with this framework is eligible for delivery on IFSC exchanges or in the over-the-counter market, where transactions take place directly between parties rather than through an exchange.^[1]

The definition of gold is deliberately wider than finished bullion bars. It includes mined material, recyclable gold, industrial by-products, mixed gold and qualifying existing stocks. It also expressly includes bars with purity of 99.5 per cent or above. That purity reference is part of the definition; it does not replace the separate technical and sourcing conditions for accreditation.^[1]

The distinction matters because gold reaches a refinery in different forms. The document describes gold dore as a newly mined alloy bar with purity below 95 per cent, which requires further refining into commercial-grade bullion. Unprocessed recyclable gold, by contrast, can include jewellery, ornaments, coins, bullion bars and manufacturing scrap returned for processing.^[1]

How the framework compares with London’s standards

Good Delivery accreditation is also used in other bullion markets, but its scope depends on the system concerned. The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) says it maintains separate Good Delivery Lists for gold and silver refiners supplying the London market. Only bars meeting its standards are acceptable for settlement of a Loco London contract, under which the bullion is physically held in London.^[2]

LBMA’s framework combines standards for purity, quality and physical appearance with responsible sourcing requirements. Refiners must implement its Responsible Gold Guidance or Responsible Silver Guidance, as applicable. LBMA also says that products outside the specified Good Delivery bar categories do not fall within its lists merely because an accredited refinery produced them.^[2]

The IFSCA document establishes an accreditation framework administered by the IFSC bullion exchange. Its stated eligibility for delivery concerns IFSC exchanges and the over-the-counter market; it does not itself confer a place on LBMA’s separately administered lists.^[1][2]

Tracing gold through different supply chains

IFSCA defines the chain of custody as the documented sequence of entities holding gold as it moves through the supply chain. It also recognises aggregators: individuals or businesses that collect scrap or unfinished gold, sometimes melt or cast it, and prepare it for subsequent refining. The framework therefore recognises material passing through intermediaries before reaching the refinery.^[1]

For mixed gold, such as a combination of mined and recycled material, the guidelines expressly require due diligence on its sources. Due diligence here means checks on where the material came from and the associated sourcing risks. Combining different inputs does not remove that source-checking requirement.^[1]

The document also separates mining by-product gold from industrial by-product gold. The former must be traced to the mining and mineral-processing operations from which it emerged. The latter must be traced to the relevant industrial, manufacturing, refining or processing activity. Examples of industrial by-products in the guidelines include furnace flue dust and spent crucibles generated during refining.^[1]

Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing requirements accompany these sourcing standards. Indian accredited refiners must comply with the applicable measures for dealers in precious metals and precious stones. Overseas refiners must also follow their own jurisdiction’s applicable requirements. Where those standards differ from IFSCA’s, the guidelines require the higher standard to be applied to the extent local law permits.^[1]

A specific exception concerns “grandfathered stocks”: gold products with a verifiable date up to the guidelines’ issuance date. These are exempt from the requirement to determine their origin. The document says that date must be capable of authentication through physical date stamps, inventory lists, or both; the exemption is framed around origin determination, not a blanket waiver of the framework.^[1]

References

1. International Financial Services Centres Authority. International Financial Services Centres Authority (Good Delivery) Guidelines, 2026. 15 October 2026.
2. LBMA. About Good Delivery.