SOP to ensure robust trade data in works

New Delhi: India is developing standard operating procedure (SOP) for coordination among various government agencies to ensure robustness of official trade data, commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said Wednesday. The development comes amid major revisions in the import data for gold, silver and electronics in the April-November period of FY25.Last week, the government setup a committee with stakeholders from DGCIS (Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics), DG Systems (CBIC) and special economic zones for creation of a robust mechanism for publishing consistent data.

“Let me assure you that we have created good SOP, (it is) under formation and the committee will ensure good coordination between DGCIS and DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade,” Barthwal said.

Data revision revealed an overestimation of approximately $11.7 billion in gold imports for the April-November period. Cumulative gold imports for the first eight months of FY25 were revised to $37.38 billion, down from the earlier estimate of $49.08 billion. Similarly, silver imports for the same period were revised downwards to $2.33 billion from $3.27 billion.

On the data releases in middle of every month, Barthwal said: “These are quick estimates and the purpose is not to hold on to some data but to release it on one date for transparency and timeliness.”

The provisional Quick Estimates (QE) of trade data for November was released on December 15, 2024.“There can be inventory buildup. There are fluctuations and seasonal variation,” he said on a spike in gold imports in November, insisting that the country follows global practices.Separately, the commerce and industry ministry is also working on an improved better analytical system with help of AI to get better insights into data.

The government has setup a committee to create a mechanism for publishing consistent export-import data even as multiple official portals continue to capture trade data. Citing persistence of certain technical glitches, the ministry said that the migration from SEZ Online to ICEGATE is still complete and both portals are still capturing and transmitting mutually exclusive EXIM data to DGCIS.

“There are some commodity groups where spikes get exaggerated. November gold imports were huge and there were coordination and data transmission issues which exaggerate it. It doesn’t happen with all,” said an official on the revision having been done for only three commodores- gold, silver and consumer electronics.

DGCIS, an arm of the ministry, is responsible for the collection, compilation and dissemination of India’s trade statistics and commercial information.