Exporters urge action to tackle rising rupee
Friday, 06 July 2007, 19:30 IST
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New Delhi: Indian exporters Thursday urged the government to take immediate action to tackle the huge losses faced by exporters due to appreciation of rupee against the dollar. "The textiles and apparels export industry has witnessed a decline of 8 to 10 percent in their net profit margins which would force them to cut down costs in terms of employment and capacity building, affecting the sector adversely in the long term," the Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO) said in a statement. The FIEO representatives had last month met Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath for implementing a fiscal package to cover their losses. The impact of the appreciation is worse in the leather and leather products sector. The erosion of net profits expected in the next 6 months is 13.7 percent and the industry is already facing an erosion of 8.8 percent on its net profits margin, according to a recent survey conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). During the last 12 months, the CII study said, the Indian rupee had appreciated by 11 percent leading to concern among the exporting community of reaching the target of $160 billion in exports in the current fiscal. Indian exporters are also facing difficulty in the international market compared to countries such as China, Thailand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which have lower rates of appreciation of their respective currencies. The growth of exports slowed down to 18.07 percent in May 2007 from 23.06 percent in April 2007. In value terms, exports during May totalled $11.86 billion, FIEO said quoting official statistics.
Source: IANS
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