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Indian rupee down to 9-month low against dollar
November 20, 2014, 6:42 am

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to step up investment and clear regulatory hurdles for businesses in the country [AP]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to step up investment and clear regulatory hurdles for businesses in the country [AP]

The Indian rupee dropped to a nine-month low against the US dollar on Thursday and was down 18 paise to 62.14.

The Indian unit resumed lower at 62.03 per dollar as against the yesterday’s closing level of 61.96 at Interbank Foreign Exchange market.

Later, it depreciated sharply to a nine-month low at 62.22.

Strengthening dollar overseas and higher importers’ demand weighed heavily on the rupee movement, dealers said.

New data released earlier this week showed India’s exports contracted by 5.04 per cent to $26 billion in October while imports grew by 3.62 per cent, pushing up the trade deficit.

Last month, the Indian government named former International Monetary Fund official Arvind Subramanian as its new chief economic adviser, tasked with turning positive investor sentiment towards India.

The Narendra Modi-led government in New Delhi is struggling to revive India’s economy after it swept to power in May with the strongest electoral mandate in 30 years.

An editorial in Indian daily, The Business Standard, criticized the government for “retreading old ideas”.

“The only real answer to a gold fixation is to provide alternative stores of value, or forms of investment. Another method of controlling gold demand is called for. But the government seems to be short of ideas, and is only retreading old ones. The failure to think innovatively is visible also in the relaunch by the finance ministry of Kisan Vikas Patras, or KVPs, a scheme that the previous government had abandoned in the wake of criticism that it facilitated laundering of black money,” said an editorial on Wednesday.

 

TBP and Agencies