No mismatch found in wild surge in exports: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today said it had not found too much variances in the invoice numbers, which had been alleged to have fudged, and those from the ports data, but added it was looking into the issue in a serious manner.

"We have matched the invoice data and those provided by the ports and have not found any great variance between the two," RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said in response to a question on whether the central bank is concerned about possible manipulation of export data as also routing of black money into the country by way of exports.

He was answering queries posed by reporters at the customary post-policy interaction following some reports which put a question mark over the basis for the impressive export growth numbers posted in the otherwise bleak outlook.

Citing commerce department data, it was reported that exports to the Bahamas, an Atlantic Ocean the tax haven, have shot over 10-fold to $2.2 billion in the last two years.

The report had claimed India's share of the Bahamas' overall exports stood at only $200 million for 2010, hinting the balance figure was probably the black money being turned white through over invoicing.

In another report, some foreign investors were also said to be wary of the impressive export growth data churned out at a time when the country's biggest export markets are facing a slowdown.

"Export to the Bahamas is largely on petroleum products. We will have to see what explains that. We are doing this not in an investigative mode, but in an understanding mode so that the report is properly [understood]," the governor said.