RBI should intervene to arrest rupee appreciation: Assocham

The sharp appreciation of rupee vis-a-vis other currencies is impacting the exports industry, the chamber said. The rupee is now ruling at above Rs 44 against dollar, it said.

"As a short-term measure, the RBI should intervene in the market to arrest the sharp appreciation of rupee, while in the long-term some sort of a mechanism like currency stabilisation fund should be explored to take care of the exporters' difficulties," Assocham President Swati Piramal said.

However, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma had recently said, "We do not see that we have reached that stage, where the rupee can be termed as volatile." The rupee has appreciated by about 9 per cent against the dollar in the last 16 months.

The Reserve Bank is scheduled to announce its second quarterly monetary policy review for the fiscal on November 2. Besides, the chamber asked the RBI to reduce the lending and borrowing rates in the context of the considerable downswing in the non-performing assets level.

Assocham also asked the central bank to ensure easy availability of credit to productive sectors. "Liberal credit to productive sector should be made available to contain inflation and spur growth," Assocham said in a statement.