Shreya Nandi/Business Standard
Amid an 'unusual' 331 per cent year-on-year surge in gold imports in November, the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) under the department of commerce has initiated a thorough review of the import data for the yellow metal, sources said on Wednesday.
"Upon noticing the unusual surge, the DGCIS has taken up a detailed examination of the gold import data, with reconciliation to be done against data received by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs," a commerce ministry source told Business Standard.
Trade data released on Monday showed that Indias trade deficit reached a record high of $37.8 billion in November, influenced by a rise in merchandise imports, especially inbound shipments of gold.
According to the data, India imported $14.9 billion worth of gold, comprising 21 per cent of merchandise imports that month.
Department of Commerce officials said that the surge in gold imports was influenced by nearly a 30 per cent increase in prices.
A Bloomberg news report said that India's record gold imports were primarily due to a calculation error. Officials reportedly double-counted gold shipments in warehouses after a change in methodology in July. Efforts are underway to reconcile the data, which may have been overestimated by as much as 50 tonnes in November.
If the error is identified, trade figures are likely to be revised, and traders may see a correction in the foreign exchange rate. This would also ease mounting speculation about the state of the economy, as economists pondered whether the surge in gold purchases signalled distress and a need to hedge against inflation, or prosperity in the hinterland triggered by a healthy crop.