NRI Alert: Why Indian expats should remit money home now

The Indian currency is likely to strengthen further against the US dollar in the wake of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision to cut interest rates last week, and may strengthen as much as 1.1 per cent.

If you're a non-resident Indian (NRI) and looking to remit a handsome amount back home or planning to buy a property or invest in any venture, the time is now.

Upward Journey Continues

The rupee opened on Monday at 63.72 to the US dollar and is expected to be on roller coaster as speculation over remittances hovers. Last week, the rupee on Friday was around 63.69 against the dollar.

It may be noted that the currency strengthened to as much as 64.32 per dollar, its highest since August 2015, after also rallying on Thursday. It was last trading at 64.4025/4075 compared with close of 64.52.

Follow Global Cues

Industry experts were expecting the currency to decline. However, market conditions turned the situation in opposite direction based on global cues. There are some speculations that the rupee might not breach 63.30 against the dollar for the time being.

Best Performing Unit

The rupee has already been one of best performing emerging market currencies this year as it has hitherto increased by nearly 7 per cent, thanks to inflows for foreign funds into the Indian equities.

The rupee was trading at 63.609 against the dollar and 17.311 against the dirham on Sunday afternoon. It hit a high of 63.58 last week against the US dollar, its highest level since July 2015.

Getting Strenth From Economy

The Indian central bank last week reduced the repo rate after a gap of almost 10 months by 0.25 percentage points to six per cent. The Indian economy continues to make progress and the RBI is shifting gears to boost economic growth.

The rupee is among the best performing emerging market currencies in 2017 having rallied 6.8 per cent year-to-date. While the broad US dollar weakness has helped, the primary driver has been inflows from foreign institutional investors into Indian equities. In the first seven months of 2017, foreign institutional investors have bought stocks worth $8.9 billion.

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