Software migration caused error in gold import computation; issue largely rectified: Sources

The government’s initiative to migrate SEZ data from NSDL software to ICEGATE system for streamlined reporting of import data caused double counting of gold imports, resulting in inflated figures and the issue has now been largely rectified, government sources said.

The downward revision has provided the actual picture of trade deficit (difference between imports and exports), which was earlier looking very high. The deficit for November will now be revised downwards from USD 37.84 billion to about USD 32.8 billion. Similarly, there will be a revision in overall import numbers as well.

On account of the correction, the commerce ministry has revised downwards the gold import data for November by USD 5 billion to USD 9.84 billion and for the first eight months of the current fiscal by USD 11.7 billion to USD 37.38 billion.

The double counting occurred as imports into the country and the clearances from SEZs (special economic zones) to domestic tariff area (DTA) were counted twice due to technical glitches.

The double counting which occurred on account of migration of NSMDL to ICEGATE has now being largely rectified, but the migration is still underway, the sources said.

“Correction and revision of data is part and parcel of framework of statistics world over. The data compilation is a complicated process as it involves collection of data from over 500 locations and over 2.5 lakh transactions take place every day,” they said.

They added that corrections and revisions of data is a standard practice and an integral part.

“Revision and corrections do happens in data. This is a normal drill of statistics,” they said.

Exports and imports take place mainly from two places — airports and seaports. SEZ (special economic zones) numbers were earlier counted separately (on NSDL system) as these zones are treated as foreign entities in terms of provisions related to customs.

In May last, it was decided to migrate from NSDL to ICEGATE.

India’s trade data compilation process starts with exporters and importers filing Shipping Bills (for exports) and Bills of Entry (for imports) through the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system at Customs. All the data comes to the server of ICEGATE.

The Indian Customs Electronic Gateway (ICEGATE) is the national portal of Indian Customs of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) that provides e-filing services to trade, cargo carriers and other trading partners electronically.

Customs officials verify these documents for compliance and assign a unique transaction number upon clearance. The verified data is then transmitted to the DGCIS in real-time.

DGCIS validates the data to correct errors and aggregates it by commodity, trade partner, port, and mode of transport.

The data is standardised into a consistent format, with trade values converted to USD for global comparability.

The Kolkata-based DGCIS prepares a preliminary monthly trade report, which is reviewed and shared with government departments. After further validation, the final data is published in reports such as Monthly Trade Statistics, Annual Reports, and Country-wise Trade Data.

This data is disseminated through DGCIS press releases, government websites, and the Export-Import Databank, and is also shared with global agencies like WTO (World Trade Organisation) and IMF (International Monetary Fund).

Trade data is periodically revised to incorporate updates from Customs. Key agencies involved in this process include DGCIS, CBIC (Customs), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

This comprehensive process ensures accurate and reliable trade data for policymaking and analysis.

It is also learnt that the ministry’s arm Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) and DG (Systems) would look into the data retrospectively to make it more robust.

The directorate will submit its report in about six weeks to the ministry.

They will review the existing data exchange protocols which are in place to identify the business processes as in what data to be accounted or not to be accounted to make the reconciliation system more robust.

According to the sources, the integration has not impacted much data of other commodities. There was also a revision in imports of silver.

The cumulative gold import during April-November 2024-25 worked out to be USD 37.38 billion as against the earlier estimates of USD 49.08 billion.

According to the revised DGCIS data, the inbound shipments in April, May, June, July, August, September and October 2024 were USD 2.95 billion (as against earlier estimate of USD 3.11 billion), USD 2.91 billion (USD 3.33 billion), USD 2.47 billion (USD 3.06 billion), USD 2.57 billion (USD 3.13 billion), USD 8.64 billion (USD 10.06 billion), USD 3.3 billion (USD 4.39 billion), and USD 4.67 billion (USD 7.12 billion), respectively.

India’s gold imports, which have a bearing on the country’s current account deficit (CAD), surged 30 per cent to USD 45.54 billion in 2023-24.

India imports the largest amount of gold from Switzerland, which has about 40 per cent share, followed by the UAE (over 16 per cent), and South Africa (about 10 per cent).

The precious metal accounts for over 5 per cent of the country’s total imports.

India is the world’s second-biggest gold consumer after China. The imports mainly take care of the demand by the jewellery industry. Gems and jewellery exports last month declined 25.32 per cent year-on-year to USD 17.43 billion.

The country’s CAD widened marginally to USD 9.7 billion, or 1.1 per cent of the GDP, in April-June 2024 against USD 8.9 billion, or 1 per cent, in the year-ago period.