The latest measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India to arrest the rupee fall have disappointed the markets as well as experts. The rupee opened strong at 56.70 a dollar, touched a high of 56.38, dipped to a low of 57.92 in the intra-day before closing at 57.0150 a dollar compared to 57.15 a dollar on Friday last.
The equity markets, too, ended in the red as the 30-share BSE Sensex closed below 17,000-mark at 16,882.16 with a loss of 90.35 points.
“The way the Finance Minister had made comments on projected announcements, the market had built up huge expectations on rate cut and amnesty scheme etc. These did not come. ECB limits and FII investments never help in immediate cure. This disappointed the street,’’ said Kishor P. Ostwal, Chairman and Managing Director of CNI Research Ltd.
“The steps announced so far are probably minimal at this time but could lead to some inward capital flows if this is supported by stronger fundamentals. We were, however, hoping for a broad-based set of strong actions as well as policy reforms that could have a positive bearing on the overall environment…..Every delay in announcing such measures is only reducing their ultimate effectiveness and extending the weak phase of our economy,” said R. V. Kanoria, President, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
