Software migration caused error in gold import computation: Govt

New Delhi, PTI: The government's initiative to migrate SEZ data from NSDL software to ICEGATE system for streamlined reporting of import data caused double counting of gold imports, resulting in inflated figures and the issue has now been largely rectified, government sources said. The downward revision has provided the actual picture of the trade deficit (difference between imports and exports), which was earlier looking very high. The deficit for November will now be revised downwards from $37.84 billion to about $32.8 billion.

Similarly, there will be a revision in overall import numbers as well. On account of the correction, the commerce ministry has revised downwards the gold import data for November by $5 billion to $9.84 billion and for the first eight months of the current fiscal by $11.7 billion to $37.38 billion. The double counting occurred as imports into the country and the clearances from SEZs (special economic zones) to Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) were counted twice due to technical glitches.

The double counting which occurred on account of migration of NSMDL to ICEGATE has now being largely rectified, but the migration is still underway, the sources said. "Correction and revision of data is part and parcel of framework of statistics world over. The data compilation is a complicated process as it involves collection of data from over 500 locations and over 2.5 lakh transactions take place every day," they said. They added that corrections and revisions of data area standard practice and an integral part.

"Revision and corrections do happen in data. This is a normal drill of statistics," they said. Exports and imports take place mainly from two places airports and seaports. SEZ (special economic zones) numbers were earlier counted separately (on NSDL system) as these zones are treated as foreign entities in terms of provisions related to customs. In May last, it was decided to migrate from NSDL to ICEGATE. India's trade data compilation process starts with exporters and importers filing Shipping Bills (for exports) and Bills of Entry (for imports) through the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system at Customs. All the data comes to the server of ICEGATE.

The Indian Customs Electronic Gateway (ICEGATE) is the national portal of Indian Customs of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) that provides e-filing services to trade, cargo carriers, and other trading partners electronically. Customs officials verify these documents for compliance and assign a unique transaction number upon clearance. The verified data is then transmitted to the DGCIS in realtime. DGCIS validates the data to correct errors and aggregates it by commodity, trade partner, port, and mode of transport.