The government has revised downwards the gold import data for November to $9.8 billion, a sharp reduction from the earlier announced figure of $14.8 billion, Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) data showed on Wednesday.
The $5 billion revision was attributed to a ‘calculation error’ caused by alleged double counting of gold shipments in warehouses following a change in methodology in July. The commerce department has not yet issued an official statement on the revised data.
The revised data also suggests a narrowing of India’s trade deficit by $5 billion, reducing it to $32.8 billion in November from the previously reported all-time high of $37.8 billion. Amid an ‘unusual’ 331 per cent year-on-year surge in gold imports during November, the DGCIS, under the commerce department, initiated a ‘detailed examination’ of the import data for the yellow metal. A reconciliation of the data was also conducted with figures provided by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, according to a commerce ministry source.
Trade data released on December 16 showed that India’s trade deficit had reached a record high in November due to a surge in merchandise imports, driven largely by a spike in inbound gold shipments. The initial data indicated gold imports worth $14.8 billion, accounting for 21 per cent of total merchandise imports for the month. India imports gold mainly from Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and Peru, among other countries.
