Import Data Revision Extends Beyond Just Gold; Panel Set Up For Consistent Data Publishing

The Union government said on Thursday that erroneous trade data had crept in from April due to double counting and set a mechanism to rectify such instances from happening again.

The Ministry of Commerce said the imports were double counted due to migration of data transmission mechanisms from SEZ to ICEGATE.

"It was observed that due to migration of data transmission mechanisms from SEZ to ICEGATE, figures of precious metals needed revision as it was noticed as the system was calculating both imports into SEZ and subsequent clearance into domestic tariff areas as separate transactions after the migration," it said.

In a statement, the ministry explained that the data transmission mechanism migration is still incomplete due to technical glitches. "Both SEZ Online and ICEGATE are still capturing and transmitting mutually exclusive EXIM data to DGCIS."

The trade data for November, released on Dec. 16, raised eyebrows due to an unusual surge in the imports of gold. That also led to India's trade deficit spiking to a record. The import value of gold in November has now been revised downward from $14.8 billion to $9.8 billion. The total for January to November has also been corrected from 796 tonnes to 664 tonnes, with October's figure being reduced to 58 tonnes from 97 earlier and November's figure reduced from 170 tonnes to 117 tonnes.

As a result of this latest reconciliation, revision has been done for trade figures from April 2024 to November 2024. Gold imports saw the biggest revisions, with data for April to November 2024 reduced from $49.08 billion to $37.39 billion, showing a drop of $11.69 billion.

Key changes were also observed in silver and electronics imports for the period from April to November, according to Ajay Srivastava, founder of trade body Global Trade Research Initiative.

India’s silver imports for April to November were revised down from $3.28 billion to $2.33 billion, marking a $0.95 billion drop. For November, silver imports were reduced by $0.18 billion, from $0.66 billion to $0.48 billion.

Electronics imports, a sector that India is increasingly focusing on, were revised from $63.9 billion to $61.2 billion for April to November, a reduction of $2.7 billion. In November, electronics imports were adjusted from $7.6 billion to $7.2 billion, reflecting a $0.4 billion drop.

Due to the erroneous reporting, the ministry formed a committee with stakeholders from Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, the Directorate General of Systems & Data Management of the Ministry of Finance's Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and various SEZs for "creation of a robust mechanism for publishing consistent data."