By IANS
New Delhi : Appreciation of the rupee, which hit a nine-year high against the dollar Thursday, is a “matter of concern” but the export target for 2007-08 will not be revisited, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said Thursday.
“The rising rupee is a matter of concern. The government is very much looking at it and it needs a new response,” Kamal Nath told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.
“But no, there will be no change in the export target,” he added, when asked if the government would be looking at revising the export target of $160 billion in 2007-08.
The rupee Thursday traded as high as Rs.39.89 a dollar, following a reduction in US interest rates. Experts say this is expected to hit the country’s exports hard, especially as it comes on top of a slowdown in the US economy.
In order to offset losses that Indian exporters are facing, the government this week announced reimbursement of service tax paid by exporters for port, road transport and rail services.
The government in July had also announced an incentive package of Rs.14 billion for exporters but the industry was not impressed.
“The packages announced by the government has not been able to offset our losses,” Ganesh K. Gupta, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said.
“The way the rupee is rising, it would be negating not only the exports but wipe them out,” Gupta told IANS, “I think now it is time the Prime Minister intervenes and takes up the matter seriously.”