Weak Re bad news for importers, oil majors

Some exporters like it because it will fetch them more dollars, but neither import-sensitive industrialists nor state-controlled oil majors are happy after the rupee touched 50 to the US dollar on Friday.

Some exporters like it because it will fetch them more dollars, but neither import-sensitive industrialists nor state-controlled oil majors are happy after the rupee touched 50 to the US dollar on Friday. For importers and oil majors, it is a spike in their outgo.

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Oil companies would be further jolted by a cut in output by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna, which could arrest a slide in global oil prices.

“Such a sharp decline in the value of the rupee is not consistent with the fundamentals of our economy,” Rajeev
Chandrashekhar, president of industry chamber Ficci, told Hindustan Times.

India imports about 76 per cent of its crude oil requirements amounting to an annual oil import bill of around $50 billion, and a weaker rupee means more to pay. The automobile industry, which imports chunks of auto parts could also be adversely impacted.

Industries that have an added bonus from exports, such as sugar, cement and chemicals, could rejoice, say market analysts.