New Delhi: The India 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, according to data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) released on Wednesday.

The $5 billion revision is attributed to a ‘calculation error’ caused by the alleged double counting of gold shipments in warehouses following a shift in the online filing services to the National Securities Depository (NSDL) from the Indian Customs Electronic Gateway (ICEGATE) starting in July 2024 for gold traders.

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. Despite the downward revision, India’s trade deficit in November continues to remain at an all-time high. 

Noticing an ‘unusual’ 331 per cent year-on-year surge in gold imports during November, the DGCI&S, under the Department of Commerce, 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 source in the Ministry of Commerce.