DOHA: The way the Indian rupee has been sliding against the riyal (which is pegged to the US dollar), foreign exchange operators here say they expect the rupee to plunge to a record 20 a riyal soon.
The rupee had already dipped to 18.58 to a riyal yesterday and there is no hope of its recovery at least in the days to come, operators said. “The rupee is literally falling by the day,” said an operator.
Yesterday, the currency fell to an almost 18 to 19-year low to the Qatari riyal, with a riyal fetching as much as `18.58 (Al Dar Exchange rate between 10 and 11 am yesterday).
The rate was `18.25 just the previous day (Tuesday). This means that in less than 24 hours the rupee shed so much value. According to media reports trickling in from India, the rupee on Tuesday alone lost 3.86 percent to the dollar to close at 68.80.
Foreign exchange operators here say they expect the rupee to touch the dangerous barrier of 70 to a dollar within days. That would bring the rupee rate to riyal to 19.22. Earlier forecasts suggested the threshold might be broken somewhere by 2013-end. “But the way the rupee is dipping in sort of a free fall, we hope you could soon see a riyal getting you `20,” said an operator.
But this is hardly good news for Indians in Qatar, many of whom, sadly, seem to be happy about the rupee’s free fall, he added. “Costs have been rising at home. This should concern all Indians and not make them happy.”
The Peninsula
