Mahesh Nayak
The Indian rupee ended on Monday at
Rs 59.68 against the US dollar, an all-time closing low. But while its slide in recent weeks has been giving many, especially importers, sleepless nights, there are some who have reason to smile as well. For C.J. George, Managing Director and Promoter of Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, for instance, it was a pleasant surprise to discover, at his company's board meeting, currently on in Dubai, that non-resident Indians have grown much more interested in investing in Indian real estate than before, since it will cost them far fewer
dollars to do so than just a few weeks ago.
"It is not just real estate," adds George. "Interest has generally been seen from NRIs and foreign institutional investors, who are waiting on the sidelines for the rupee to stabilise. The concerns of overseas investors are that the government could mess things up further. More than anything they want a clear message from the government on the
stability of the rupee. Once they get some confidence the flows are just waiting to get into the market, particularly equities."
However he feels it is unfortunate that the
outflow from debt will not be easy to bring back. The entire FII inflow into the debt segment in 2013 has been wiped out as of Monday (June 23). FIIs have sold bonds worth $4.4 billion.
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