Merging of 2 platforms led to gold’s double counting: Government

NEW DELHI: Systems-related glitches, following the integration of two platforms, resulted in double counting of gold and silver shipped from special economic zones (SEZs) to the domestic area, inflating the import of yellow metal by $5 billion in Novemer, a problem which has largely been fixed, government said on Thursday.
While around 2.5 lakh export and import related data is reported to the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCI&S) from anywhere between 300 and 500 locations every day, the integration of Indian Customs Electronic Gateway or ICEGATE with NSDL platform, that provided data on SEZs caused the error.
NSDL data was sent to DGCI&S directly until July, when data from 110 locations was sent to ICEGATE. Following the integration, the bills of entry when gold and silver entered an SEZ and a part of it being sold to the domestic tariff area were captured separately, resulting in double counting. Even now all units in SEZs have not fully migrated to the new system.
In a statement, the commerce department said revisions are done periodically, as is the case for all statistics. “The revision is based on data that’s received late, amendments in the respective months and qualitative corrections wherever required,” it said.
Besides, a panel comprising officials from DGCI&S and DG Systems from the customs side has been tasked with ensuring a robust system for data collection and collation. While trade numbers have been revised for April-Nov 2024, govt is checking if revision from April 2023 is required when the change began.