New Delhi, Mar 12 (KNN) Any more increase in rupee value against the US and other hard major currencies will further dent India’s exports which had somehow managed to sail through the troubled  global markets in the last six-seven months, partly helped by the currency depreciation, EEPC said adding that the worst sufferers are the small and medium exporters.
 
Making out a strong case for the RBI to buy dollar and shore the country’s foreign exchange reserves, the Chairman of the EEPC India, Anupam Shah said today that, “the rupee has traversed from being the worst perming currency among the emerging economies to the best performing one. However, in the bargain, the competitiveness of the Indian exports has been dented to the extent of 10 per cent in the last seven months.”
 
He said the initial fallout signs were visible in the February export data showing shrinkage of shipments by 3.67 per cent. The case in point is that the engineering exports, the largest contributors to the overall export basket, which had increased by about 37 per cent, took a turn for worse and contracted by 3.13 per cent in February this year.
 
Shah said the worst sufferers are the small and medium exporters who are facing the cash crunch by delays in duty refunds from the government and now face a currency pressure. “If the situation does not improve, the new financial year beginning in the next two weeks, may not begin on a healthy note…It is getting tougher out there…The RBI should intervene effectively to buy dollar and let rupee depreciate so that India’s export competitiveness does not erode any further.”   
 
He said with total exports expected to be around USD 310 billion this fiscal and grim outlook for the next financial year, India could face a situation where exports would have remained stagnant around USD 300 billion for three successive financial years- 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15. (KNN Bureau)