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.
I remember talking to my friends late last year and telling them that transfer your dollars to India as I expected Rupee to be breaching 35 mark soon. And it was not only me, even the analysts and experts were predicting the same thing. But that seems to be a far away dream. Now one has to hope that Rupee does not breach the 45 mark. That would be disastrous !
What do readers think? Can Rupee stop its slide against dollar?