Exporters upset as rupee appreciates

The surge in foreign money over BJP winning the general elections and consequent strengthening of rupee, has worried exporters.

Exporters fear that if rupee appreciated further it will hit Indian exports.

“We are concerned whether the rupee will appreciate further. The expo- rters while giving their offering had calculated the rupee to be at 60 against the dollar,” Federation of Indian Export Organsiations ( FIEO), president, M. Rafeeque Ahmed told this newspaper on Sunday.

Mr Ahmed said that he expects the RBI to intervene in the market and see that the rupee does not appreciate further.

“The RBI had also intervened on Friday. On Monday The RBI will see how things evolve and hopefully intervene if needed. The RBI will like to keep the rupee at 59- 60 against the dollar,” he said. However, Mr Rafeeque said that if the rupee strengthen to 55 Indian exports will take a hit.

“You can’t cover everything. If the rupee hit 55 against dollar there will be no margin left for the exports. It will pull down the exports,” he added.

Rupee had closed at a 11month high on Friday after the BJP won absolute majority in the 16th Lok Sabha election at 58.87 from 59.47 in the previous day.

Rupee had risen by over 5 per cent since January and is the second most appreciating currency in Asia after Indonesian rupiah.

Earlier Engineering Export Promotion Council and CII had said that strengthening of the rupee below the crucial 60- mark to a dollar is not a good news for the exporters even though the stock market seems to be celebrating strong FII inflows.