Business | General
Indian rupee's slide brings cheer to expatriates
Strengthening of the dollar results in a flood of remittances from Asian communities in the UAE.
- By Himendra Mohan Kumar, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:37 September 17, 2008
Abu Dhabi: The Indian rupee's continued slide against the dollar, and consequently the dirham, is giving a major boost to remittances by the Indian expatriate community living in the UAE, a senior executive of a largest foreign exchange remitter said on Wednesday.
The rupee fell to its lowest since July 2006 yesterday, hit by concerns about capital outflows from the local share market, offsetting dollar sales by state banks to halt the rupee's fall.
One UAE dirham is now worth Rs12.76, up from Rs10.60 only a few months ago. The strengthening of the dollar helps expatriates living in the UAE get more value in their local currencies given the dirham's peg to the greenback.
Remittances to India and to other Asian countries by UAE expatriates has noticeably risen this month, especially with the approaching festive season, Sudhir Shetty, UAE Exchange's chief operating officer and general manager, told Gulf News by telephone from Vienna.
In September, so far, the exchange has witnessed a 12 per cent rise in remittances to India, a seven per cent rise to Pakistan and an up to eight per cent increase to the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, he said.
"Normally, we remit on average Rs400 million a day to India. This has risen to Rs450 million per day," Shetty said.
"The Indian rupee is crumbling because of an increased demand for dollars in the Mumbai market, mainly from oil importers," said Shetty.
Shetty said remittances to the Philippines through their exchange is currently averaging $300,000 per day, while to Bangladesh it is the equivalent of $12 million a month.
Indians comprise the largest segment of the workforce in the UAE and thus the money transfers by them are more in terms of volume, he said.
Shetty said money transfers to Pakistan through the UAE Exchange is averaging Rs1 billion a month, while transfers to Indonesia are close to $30 million a month.
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