India to Launch Data Analytics Platform for Trade Insights

New Delhi, Jan 15 (PTI) The government is working to develop a data analytics platform with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to get much better insights into the country's trade figures, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Wednesday.

He said the ministry is already analysing the data of various sectors and comparing it comprehensively with previous years.

"We are working on that project. It may launched at any time....we will be giving you much better insights into the data," he told reporters here.

"Whether there is a consistency in our growth or not, whether resiliency has come in our exports or not? So these kinds of insights are now coming. We are working in that direction. Soon you will find that. There will be a launch of platform which will give us better data analytics," he added.

The ministry has already formed a committee, comprising officials from commerce and finance ministries, to create a robust mechanism for publishing consistent and accurate data following errors in gold import figures.

The committee is working on a standard operating procedure to ensure that there is better coordination between the DGCIS and the DG (Systems).

Due to the migration of data transmission mechanism from SEZ (special economic zone) to ICEGATE (Indian Customs Electronic Gateway), figures of precious metals needed revision as double counting was noticed.

The double counting occurred because the system was calculating both imports into SEZ and subsequent clearance into DTA (domestic tariff area) as separate transactions after the migration.

The government has revised gold import data, bringing down numbers for November by USD 5 billion to USD 9.84 billion.

According to revised data of the commerce ministry arm, Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), gold import numbers have been slashed since April 2024, revealing excess imports of about USD 11.7 billion during the first eight months of 2024-25.

Kolkata-based DGCIS is an organisation for the collection, compilation and dissemination of India's trade statistics and commercial information.

DGCI&S receives trade data from over 500 locations and about 2.5 lakh transactions every day from different seaports, land ports, airports and inland container depots.

He added that data is always updated, revised and reconciled.

"That is how data moves...there are international practices which we are also following. For example, 15th (of every month) is the date when all countries, as per IMF requirements, release the data...These are processes, these revisions keep on happening. We do this periodically," Barthwal said.