By Shivangi Acharya
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India sharply lowered its April-November 2024 gold import estimate by $11.7 billion on Thursday after precious metal trade figures were miscalculated due to some double counting.
The government revised its gold import estimate to $37.38 billion from $49.06 billion, trade statistics department data showed, after a review triggered by an unusual surge in imports.
Under a new data system, precious metal imports were calculated twice – once on entering the nation’s so-called special economic zones and again on being cleared to exit such a zone into rest of the nation, India’s trade department said in a statement on Thursday.
The downward revision in gold imports alone is likely to also shrink the nation’s trade gap by at least $11.7 billion.
New Delhi said last month its gold imports hit a record high of $14.8 billion in November, a figure that has now been revised down by $5 billion.
The spike widened the country’s merchandise trade deficit to a record level and spooked the South Asian nation’s currency.
Among other precious metals, India’s silver imports between April and November were also revised down to $2.33 billion from $3.28 million, according to a calculation by New Delhi-based think tank Global Trade Research Initiative.
As per previous and unrevised estimates, India’s April-November trade deficit stood at $202.42 billion.
India is the world’s second-largest consumer of gold and relies on imports to meet most of its demand, which typically increases during the festival and wedding season in the December quarter.
(Reporting by Shivangi Acharya; editing by Jason Neely and Bernadette Baum)
