Commerce Minister Anand Sharma while addressing media persons said that the continued fall of the rupee against the dollar in the international market is a matter of serious concern. He further added, “Large dollar demand especially by the oil companies was keeping currency up and down. Our oil bill is on the higher side and responsible for the fall of Indian Rupee in the market”.
He disclosed that Indian Government was taking steps to balance the volatility of the rupee in the market and also attributed the reason to the global uncertainty terming that India is no exception and market forces are uncertain.
Linking the Indian economy with global scenario, he said that unfortunately India depends on the import of lots of items, like crude oil and pulses. “But the impact of global petroleum prices is mainly responsible for inflation. The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has taken a lot of initiatives but there is a lot of pressure on the rupee,” said Mr. Sharma.
He said India is annually importing 9 million tonne of edible oil, 4 to 5 million tonne of pulses and our oil (petroleum) bill is $154 billion.
