Commerce Dept, PMEAC data don't tally

The dept considered trade deficit for FY13 at $190.91 bn, while PMEAC estimated it at $195 bn

The current account deficit (CAD) for 2012-13 could be a tad lower than the PMEAC's estimate of 5.1 per cent of gross domestic product, owing to differences in the estimation of trade deficit by PMEAC and the Commerce Department. While the department considered trade deficit for 2012-13 at $190.91 billion, PMEAC estimated it at $195 billion.

PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan said when the council made its calculations, the data for March weren't available. PMEAC member Saumitra Chaudhuri said, "The difference between ours and DGCIS (Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics) figures was $1.5 billion for the March data and about $3.5 billion on revisions in data by DGCIS."

Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said he didn't think the numbers or the scenario had changed between April 18 and on Tuesday.

In terms of the balance of payments (which is used to calculate CAD), the trade deficit for 2012-13 is estimated at $200 billion. Rangarajan said usually, the balance of payments was about $4-5 billion higher than the figure provided by DGCIS.