(Bloomberg) -- India on Thursday said it has revised its trade data for precious metals after a detailed examination found that November gold imports witnessed an “unusual surge” owing to technical glitches.
Gold imports for November were $9.84 billion, data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, a unit of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, showed. The published figures are about $5 billion, or a third, lower than what was previously reported in November.
Based on the new figure, India’s trade deficit for November was $31.83 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations, compared with a previously reported $37.8 billion. The trade gap was driven by a four-fold increase in gold imports to a record $14.8 billion, from just $3.44 billion a year ago.
While gold imports have risen steadily since the government cut duties on the precious metal to 6% from 15% in the July budget, the sharp spike had stumped analysts and raised questions about the accuracy of key data in one of the world’s major economies.
The reconciliation exercise showed that “due to migration of data transmission mechanism” figures of precious metals needed revision, a government statement said. “However, owing to persistence of certain technical glitches, the migration is still not complete.”
Bloomberg had reported earlier that officials had double-counted some gold imports, leading to an overestimation.
For the April-November period, the DGCIS lowered gold imports by $11.7 billion — to $37.39 billion from $49.08 billion.
“Revision has been done for trade figures from April to November,” the statement from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said. “The revision is based on data that’s received late, amendments in the respective months and qualitative corrections wherever required.”
The correction may offer relief to analysts who had been left confused by the earlier data. The figures had sparked debate as some economists attributed the surge to prosperity in rural areas following a healthy monsoon, while others thought it was a desperate attempt by Indians to look for a safe asset as the local currency tumbles.
--With assistance from Shinjini Datta.
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