India re-examining record Nov gold imports, sources say
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The Indian government is re-examining a surge in gold imports that widened the country's trade deficit to a record in November and pushed the rupee to an all-time low, two government sources aware of the matter told Reuters.
Bloomberg News reported earlier that officials double-counted gold shipments in warehouses following a change in methodology in July, leading to a calculation error.
India's Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) has taken up a "detailed examination of the gold import data and reconciliation would be done with the data" received by the tax department, one of the sources said.
The Indian government did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Gold imports could have been overestimated by as much as 50 tons, or almost 30% of total imports of the precious metal that month, the Bloomberg report said, citing sources.
The country's merchandise trade deficit widened to a record $37.84 billion in November, data released on Monday by the commerce ministry showed, much higher than economists' forecast of $23.9 billion, according to a Reuters poll.
Inbound shipments of gold climbed to a record high of $14.8 billion last month, more than doubling from $7.13 billion in October, the data showed.
