Exporters see short-term gain amid rupee slide

Exporters on Thursday said the depreciating rupee may be beneficial for certain segments in the short term but global buyers may start asking for discounts if the unit would stay near the 70 mark.

Indian Silk Export Promotion Council Chairman Satish Gupta said most of the export bills are made in dollar terms and such exporters will benefit from the conversion in rupee.

However, buyers are very clever, he said.

"Though the buyers have so far not started asking for benefit of currency fluctuation to be parted with them in the form discount but it is likely that the buyer will start asking for discount while realising payment if the dollar stagnate around Rs 70," he said.

CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said unexpected global events have led to sharp volatility in the rupee. "While India is getting clubbed with other emerging markets, we are confident that stability will emerge soon as India's sound fundamentals and strong growth is taken into account."

Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat cautioned that while Indian economy would be able to absorb the rupee depreciation in the range of 69-71 to a dollar range to a dollar but anything beyond that would have negative impact on inflation.

Being a net importing country, India cannot afford to lose value of its currency much even if other emerging markets lose in a similar way. Rawat said.

"Stability should be the watchword and given the forex reserves of $400 billion, the RBI should remain on top of the situation," Rawat said.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations Director General Ajay Sahai said the overall impact of the rupee's slide will be good but vary segment-wise.