KUWAIT CITY : Since the past three weeks, remittances to India have skyrocketed in light of the falling value of the Indian rupee, say officials at money exchanges. Confirming that there has been a spurt in remittances to India, Titus E.D. Director and General Manager of Bahrain Exchange Company (BEC) said:
"This is a win-win situation for Indian expats and they should try to capitalize on the weak rupee by remitting money as the rupee weakness will not last long. Towards the end of the year, I believe, the rupee will appreciate. This is because the dollar is weak and the rupee should rise against the greenback." While the currency jumped to 12 per cent the previous year, the record oil prices and the decision of foreigners to dump local stocks have contributed to the weakening of the rupee by 8.2 per cent in 2008, according to latest reports. Currently, one Kuwaiti Dinar (KD) is pegged at 162 rupees while a month ago one KD fetched 150 rupees. Two months ago, one KD was equivalent to 145 rupees while in January it traded at rupees 143.5, according to BEC.
As far as the draft rate of BEC is concerned, he said that a customary draft is charged KD 6.200 for one thousand Indian rupees while a door-to-door draft with the same amount costs KD 6.210.
Normally, Titus observed, the period between 13 to 25th of the month is slack for money exchanges but that was not the case this month, even as expats are continuing to send money in huge amounts.
Titus said money exchanges have been witnessing cut-throat competition and that this has resulted in improvement of services. Lauding Kuwait's move to peg the dinar to basket of currencies, Titus termed it as a prudent decision and that this helped the KD to appreciate against the greenback.
He said that a substantial number of Indians are remitting their money through the door-to-door medium and described the service as efficient.
Titus went on to add that contract and domestic workers remit money on a regular basis but, on a smaller scale, and that High Networth Individuals remit money, periodically, but in huge sums.
A contract worker, who identified himself as Rohit Mishra, told the Arab Times he cashed in on the weakening rupee and remitted fifty thousand rupees to his bank account in his home state of Bihar.
Taking the point further, he said: "I borrowed KD 100 from friends as I did not want to miss out on this golden opportunity. Thanks to the weak rupee, the purchasing power of my family back home has increased. I am planning to borrow more money in the coming days to send another 20,000 rupees."
Another Indian expat, Mohammad Iqbal, a domestic worker said he had saved around KD 350 for his upcoming vacation but sent the entire amount to his bank account in Bombay after he realized through his friends that the rupee had lost its value.
BEC transformed the money exchange industry in Kuwait by breaking away from conventional fund transfer models known in the region to offer a brand new experience that gave its customers complete control over the money transfer process.
By Francis A. Clifford Cardozo
© Arab Times 2008
