Double-counting of shipments inflated gold imports, says commerce ministry

While, the initial months of 2024-25 saw narrower revisions, the gold import data for October is now lower by $2.45 billion to $4.68 billion.

India's gold imports in April-November were overstated by $11.7 billion due to double-counting of shipments, commerce ministry explained in a release on January 9.

On noticing unusual surge in imports of precious metals, the Centre conducted a reconciliation exercise wherein it was observed that due to migration of data pertaining to SEZs (special economic zones) to the ICEGATE (Indian Customs EDI Gateway) system, figures of precious metals needed revision, the commerce ministry said.

The ministry explained that internationally revision and corrections are an inherent part of any statistical procedure. The quick estimate values are initial estimates and are often systematically amended to reflect more accurate information.

"The date on exports and imports pertaining to SEZs as well as all other ports is being captured and transmitted by ICEGATE to DGCIS ( Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics). However, owing to persistence of certain technical glitches, the migration is still not complete. Both SEZ Online and ICEGATE are still capturing and transmitting mutually exclusive data to DGCIS," the release explained.

Export and import data from SEZs, which were were earlier calculated through the NSDL system, was shifted to ICEGATE in May last year.

The explanation follows a downward revision in gold imports, in terms of value by $11.7 billion to $37.39 billion during April-November. The sharpest revision was seen in the month of November wherein figures were slashed by a massive $5 billion on January 8 from the earlier figure released on December 16.

While, the initial months of 2024-25 saw narrower revisions, the gold import data for October is now lower by $2.45 billion to $4.68 billion.

Silver imports too were revised by a smaller $0.48 billion from $0.66 billion in November. For the first eight months of the current fiscal, inbound shipments of this precious metal were revised downward by $0.95 billion to $2.33 billion.

The commerce ministry's statement acknowledged that DGCIS does revise and correct data on imports and exports from time to time.

"The revision is based on data that is received late, amendments in the respective months and qualitative corrections wherever required," the release added.