India revises gold, silver, electronics import data

Chennai: The government has revised the import data of gold, silver and electronics between April and November 2024 with gold import value brought down by $11.69 billion, silver by $0.95 billion and electronics by $2.7 billion. In the case of gold, imports have been lowered by 133 tonnes since April.

Gold imports saw the biggest revisions, with data for April to November 2024 reduced from $49.08 billion to $37.39 billion, showing a drop of 23.8 per cent or $11.69 billion, as per the calculations done by GTRI. The sharpest drop was seen in November 2024, when gold imports were revised down by 33.8 per cent or $5.02 billion, from $14.86 billion to $9.84 billion.

Metal Focus finds that in tonnage terms, gold imports came down by 133 tonnes during the April-November period from 797 tonnes to 664 tonnes. The sharpest correction in November brought down the gold tonnage from 170 tonnes to 117 tonnes – down by 53 tonnes. In the month of October, the tonnage has been revised by 28 tonnes from 86 tonnes to 58 tonnes.

In September, the correction of 13 tonnes was made and in August it was revised from 136 tonnes to 118 tonnes – down by 18 tonnes. Between April and July, gold imports have been revised by less than 10 tonnes in each month.

“The double counting of gold rerouted to the domestic market from SEZs seems to have happened due to a software error,” said Chirag Sheth, founder, Metal Focus.

As per the country-wise data available between April and October, gold imports from UAE have been revised by $3.65 billion. Switzerland imports saw a revision of $1 billion during the period, South Africa $1.07 billion, Australia by $0.48 billion and Hong Kong $0.33 billion.

Silver imports for April to November 2024 were revised down from $3.28 billion to $2.33 billion, marking a 28.9 per cent or $0.95 billion drop. For November 2024, silver imports were reduced by $0.18 billion, from $0.66 billion to $0.48 billion.

India’s electronics imports for April to November 2024 were revised from $63.9 billion to $61.2 billion, a reduction of $2.7 billion or 4.2 per cent. In November 2024, electronics imports were adjusted from $7.6 billion to $7.2 billion, reflecting a $0.4 billion or 5.3 per cent drop.

“Ensuring more accurate and timely data collection, minimizing reporting errors, and improving verification mechanisms will be essential to avoid such large-scale corrections in the future and to provide a clearer picture of India's trade performance,” said Ajay Srivastava, founder, GTRI.