Indian rupee steady at 21.68/Dh – should remitters wait after US Fed rate hike on September 22?

Indian rupee steady at 21.68/Dh – should remitters wait after US Fed rate hike on September 22?

Dubai: The Indian rupee has started the week on firm footing, at 21.67-21.69 to a dirham, even with the dollar still relatively on the higher side. In fact, right through the last week, the rupee had been spared of the turmoil that had seen the euro and the pound sterling plunge against the dollar. “India is spending less on oil imports because crude prices have been dropping – by 10 per cent in the last months - and a second reason is that foreign fund inflows into Indian markets remain consistently on the higher side,” said Krishnan Ramachandarn, CEO of Barjeel Geojit Securities in Sharjah. “There could be a third reason for the rupee’s relative stability, and that’s because while gold imports will grow, the price of gold is still on the lower side (compared to a year ago).” (Oil and gold imports eat up a significant portion of India’s dollar reserves, and these play into how well or otherwise the rupee will do.) On Monday, India's main stock market index, the BSE Sensex, is up up by more than 400 points as at 10.15 UAE time. In another 10 days, the US Federal Reserve will have announced the next