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No cause for panic due to currency decline: Indian FM

Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram. File Pic
Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram. File Pic

In view of continuing decline in value of Indian currency, Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram Thursday said there was no need for panic.

New Delhi, Aug 22/Nationalturk- The Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram Thursday said there was no need for panic due to decline in value of Indian currency.

“There is no cause for the panic that seems to have gripped the currency markets and that is feeding into other markets,” Chidambaram told media persons here today.

He said there is widespread concern about the volatility in the currency markets. “I may point out that all emerging market economies appear to be affected by such volatility. Thanks to the global slowdown as well as some domestic factors, the Indian economy is challenged”.

The Indian rupee ended at a record closing low of 64.55 today as against Wednesday’s close of 64.11. Earlier in the day today, the rupee touched an all-time low of 65.56, but it registered a sharp recovery in the last hour of trade.  Today was the sixth straight day of decline for the Indian rupee.

‘In last 12 months, India has taken measures to revive investment’

Indian Finance minister said in last twelve months, Indian Government has taken number of measures to contain inflation and revive investment and growth. “Some results are visible, yet there are many challenges that have to be overcome”.

Chidambaram said growth slowed down to 5 percent in 2012-13 and we expect that the growth trend will remain flattish in the first quarter, but even so we are in better health than many other countries of the world. Therefore, there is no reason for excessive or unwarranted pessimism.

“We expect that growth will pick up. For 2012-13, Indian government made a promise on containing the fiscal deficit. The Government has redeemed that promise and the fiscal deficit was reduced to 4.9 percent. Besides, the Current Account Deficit (CAD) which was USD 88.2 billion was fully financed and there was also an accretion of USD 3.8 billion to the reserves,” he said

Chidambaram said for 2013-14, India government has made two commitments. “The fiscal deficit will be contained at 4.8 percent; and   CAD will be contained at USD 70 billion and will be fully and safely financed”.

‘No intention to introduce capital control’

Referring to intervention by India’s Reserve Bank of India (RBI), he said, “Some measures taken recently by RBI have been the subject matter of different interpretations. We wish to make it clear that these measures were taken to reduce volatility in the markets and to quell speculation on the Indian rupee”.

“There was – and is – no intention to introduce any type of capital control, including controls on repatriation. It is not the policy of the government or the RBI to resort to capital controls or reverse the direction of capital account liberalisation. The measures that were taken last week will be revisited as stability returns,” he said while trying address concerns of foreign investors.

“We believe that the rupee is undervalued and has overshot what is generally believed to be a reasonable and appropriate level. Capital inflows will, in due course, correct the position. On August 12, 2013, I had listed a number of measures that we will take to enhance the capital inflows by about USD 11 billion. Work is in progress on these measures and we are confident that the results will be visible in the near future. FDI inflows in Q1 were USD 9.14 billion, an increase of 70 percent over the same quarter last year. Exports have risen by 11.7 percent in July 2013 over July 2012 and the trade deficit in June and July 2013 has narrowed to USD 12.3 billion each month. Net services exports have increased every month since April. These were USD 6.1 billion in June 2013 compared to USD 4.5 billion in June 2012. As a result, CAD is narrower. We are exploring structural measures to further reduce the CAD to sustainable levels and, in the meantime, to improve capital inflows,” he added.

Expressing confidence that stability will return to the markets, he said, “The revival and encouragement of growth will continue to be the focus of the Indian Government. The stronger growth will, in course of time, alleviate many of the challenges that we face”.

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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk India News

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