DOHA: A Qatari riyal (QR) was fetching Indian Rs16.90 in the local foreign exchange market yesterday after the Indian currency hit a new low against the dollar in recent months. The rupee had for sometime been stable, quoting against the dollar-pegged QR within a band of 16.75 to 16.78. The sudden drop in the rupee’s value yesterday was attributed to a stronger dollar and increasing import of gold in India due to its falling prices.
An official of an exchange house busy on Qatar-India sector said they even offered Rs16.92 for 1QR to special clientele or those routing large remittances home. But remittances to India, which has a large expatriate population here, have yet to pick up the anticipated momentum since month-end is approaching and people are waiting for their November salary.
And those Indians who have funds saved locally are waiting for the rupee to fall further to send remittances home as the dollar is expected to appreciate further in the hope of interest rates going up in the US in the near future.
The rupee has fallen more than 40 percent in the past four years. It was quoting at 12.05 against Qatari riyal by mid-September 2010, and plunged to 17.30 late in August of 2013. It even touched an all-time nadir of 18 plus against the riyal more than a year ago.
Reports suggest that India sends some five million of its people to the GCC states, making them the largest expatriate group in the region. The country has been pressing the six-member Gulf countries to raise the wages of their nationals in view of many factors, including the depreciating Indian currency and ever-escalating cost of living in India and the GCC states. The Peninsula
