With rupee plunging below the 55-level against the dollar, which benefits exporters, global buyers are putting pressure on Indian exporters to offer 10-15 per cent discount on shipments.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIE), however, said the continuous fall in the domestic currency would not help exporters much. “Global buyers are putting pressure for more and more discounts. They are asking for about 10-15 per cent. They want to re-negotiate the deals,” Director-General of FIEO Ajay Sahai said.
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said this was a “serious” situation as it would further increase the country's gold and crude oil imports, which, in turn, would widen the trade deficit.
India's trade deficit in 2011-12 has touched an all time high of $185 billion.
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Secretary-General Rajiv Kumar said that falling currency beyond a point was not good for the economy and there was a need for strong reform measures.
“To overcome the problem of fall, the government should immediately take strong economic reform steps to boost foreign direct investment.
“There is a need to remove the impediments to increase investments,” Mr. Kumar said. To check the sliding rupee, the Reserve Bank had, last week, asked exporters to convert half of their foreign exchange reserves into rupee to make available dollars in the market.
