17 May 2012
Muscat: Remittances from Indian expatriates are showing only a marginal growth in the region of five to 10 per cent, amid the rupee touching an all-time low against Omani rial yesterday.
A majority of the expatriates have already remitted their savings in the last couple of weeks, after the Indian currency started plunging below the Rs136-level.
"There is not much rush in the money exchanges for remitting money. However, our remittance volume has increased by five to 10 per cent in the last couple of days after the rupee touched an all-time low. Our rupee rate is Rs.141.35 per rial today, Tony George Alexander, chief executive officer of Oman UAE Exchange, told Times of Oman.
Some other exchange houses, like Al Jadeed Exchange, were offering as high as Rs141.45 for an Omani rial.
Large section
Alexander, whose money exchange centre is the largest in Oman with a sizable network of 38 branches, added that since the rupee has been sliding for quite some time now, a majority of Indian expatriates must have already remitted their savings.
"Those who wait for a further fall in rupee value are very few.-
A large section of expatriates remitted their funds when the rupee was hovering in the region of Rs136-140 per rial in the last couple of weeks, echoed K P Sasidharan, general manager of Global Money Exchange, which is managed by State Bank of Travancore.
The Indian currency yesterday fell to Rs.54.33 to the dollar in the afternoon, breaching its previous intraday lifetime low of 54.30 struck on December 15.
According to reports reaching here, foreign exchange traders expect the rupee to fall further in the coming days with risk aversion hitting global markets and sentiment souring about India because of its ballooning fiscal deficit and slowing economy.
Further fall
Alexander of Oman UAE Exchange expects the Indian rupee to fall further. "If it crosses Rs55-level against a dollar, the depreciation will continue.
He added that apart from the European crisis, India's current account deficit is also affecting the currency value.
Sources at money exchange centres also noted that there are two types of customers -" middle or low income group and high net worth individuals. The first category is generally not much bothered about the fluctuation in exchange rates as their families depend on remittances for their monthly expenses, while the second category waits for a better rate. Those who send money for investment purposes are taking advantage of the weak rupee.
This section constitutes around 25-30 per cent of the total remitters. But the volume of funds they constitute is high at almost 60 per cent.
The Indian currency has plunged more than 10 per cent since March despite persistent interventions from the central bank, which has regularly bought dollars and only last week announced new measures to support the local unit.
Sasidharan added that RBI intervention had prevented a steel fall in rupee value. There are indications that the RBI may directly sell dollar to oil companies and if that happens, the dollar demand will come down. Oil companies are the largest buyers of dollar in the forex market to pay for their imports.
Muscat: Remittances from Indian expatriates are showing only a marginal growth in the region of five to 10 per cent, amid the rupee touching an all-time low against Omani rial yesterday.
A majority of the expatriates have already remitted their savings in the last couple of weeks, after the Indian currency started plunging below the Rs136-level.
"There is not much rush in the money exchanges for remitting money. However, our remittance volume has increased by five to 10 per cent in the last couple of days after the rupee touched an all-time low. Our rupee rate is Rs.141.35 per rial today, Tony George Alexander, chief executive officer of Oman UAE Exchange, told Times of Oman.
Some other exchange houses, like Al Jadeed Exchange, were offering as high as Rs141.45 for an Omani rial.
Large section
Alexander, whose money exchange centre is the largest in Oman with a sizable network of 38 branches, added that since the rupee has been sliding for quite some time now, a majority of Indian expatriates must have already remitted their savings.
"Those who wait for a further fall in rupee value are very few.-
A large section of expatriates remitted their funds when the rupee was hovering in the region of Rs136-140 per rial in the last couple of weeks, echoed K P Sasidharan, general manager of Global Money Exchange, which is managed by State Bank of Travancore.
The Indian currency yesterday fell to Rs.54.33 to the dollar in the afternoon, breaching its previous intraday lifetime low of 54.30 struck on December 15.
According to reports reaching here, foreign exchange traders expect the rupee to fall further in the coming days with risk aversion hitting global markets and sentiment souring about India because of its ballooning fiscal deficit and slowing economy.
Further fall
Alexander of Oman UAE Exchange expects the Indian rupee to fall further. "If it crosses Rs55-level against a dollar, the depreciation will continue.
He added that apart from the European crisis, India's current account deficit is also affecting the currency value.
Sources at money exchange centres also noted that there are two types of customers -" middle or low income group and high net worth individuals. The first category is generally not much bothered about the fluctuation in exchange rates as their families depend on remittances for their monthly expenses, while the second category waits for a better rate. Those who send money for investment purposes are taking advantage of the weak rupee.
This section constitutes around 25-30 per cent of the total remitters. But the volume of funds they constitute is high at almost 60 per cent.
The Indian currency has plunged more than 10 per cent since March despite persistent interventions from the central bank, which has regularly bought dollars and only last week announced new measures to support the local unit.
Sasidharan added that RBI intervention had prevented a steel fall in rupee value. There are indications that the RBI may directly sell dollar to oil companies and if that happens, the dollar demand will come down. Oil companies are the largest buyers of dollar in the forex market to pay for their imports.
© Times of Oman 2012
