by Arun Prabhudesai 
I have been following the rupee dollar battle since I started this blog last year. It had been one sided battle through out last year. Last year was won by Rupee hands down. Rupee was valued at nearly 45 rupee at the start of last year and by December 07, it had reached the highs of nearly 38.5 against dollar. Importers were rejoicing and exporters were crying.
The trend seems to have reversed since start of this year. From highs of 38.5 against dollar, the rupee has had a big slide and has touched the lows of 41.77. The rupee is hitting this level for the first time since May last year.
Experts have largely blamed this slide to the sky-high global oil prices which touched a record $122 per barrel yesterday. Last year around same time when I was in US, I had filled up gas for around $1.80/1.90 per gallon whereas today the gallon prices are nearly touching four dollars.
May 9, 2008 Continue Reading → by Arun Prabhudesai 
Last year around June I had written about the dollar plunge against the Rupee. For all the Indians living in U.S, it was one of the most concerning aspect as any remittances to India were nearly 15% lower.
Most of them were expecting Rupee to keep on appreciating and break even the 35 Rupee mark against the dollar. Till December of last year that trend remained intact, however 2008 seems to have taken a sudden U turn. After a gap of more than a year Rupee has depreciated to over 40 against the dollar, much to everyone’s surprise. Although it has been range-bound for last month or so, no one seems to be talking about 35 Rupee mark that was expected to hit as per most of the analysts.
April 9, 2008 Continue Reading → 
Comment Earn $100 Contest Update 1
by Arun PrabhudesaiAs most of the regular readers may know that I started a simple comment contest that will be running till the 25th of this months. The best comment will be getting $100. For more details about the contest you can visit the contest page.