The Hindu Business Line : Exporters shifting to euro invoicing

THE impact of the rising rupee against the dollar has not really affected the export competitiveness of Indian exporters, according to Mr H.A.C. Prasad, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India.

He was speaking on Thursday at an interactive session with exporters on "Invoicing patterns of Indian exporters," in Bangalore. The meet was organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (Karnataka Chapter).

Pointing out to other economies, he said some currencies were seeing an appreciation of 20-25 per cent while the Indian rupee was only up by four per cent.

However, it was true that there had been a shift, though small, from dollar invoicing to euro invoicing, he clarified.

Export invoicing in the dollar had fallen from 82.4 per cent in 2001-02 to 76.9 per cent in 2002-03. At the same time, invoicing in euro had risen from 0.94 per cent to 7.8 per cent. But the issues to be considered were: The shift was not as high as expected, that the dollar continued to be an important currency and the US was an important trading partner for India.

He emphasised that besides hedging, exporters had to monitor the changing exchange rates of the dollar and other currencies, examine whether any policy measures had to be taken and whether any further customs duty cut would make exports more competitive.

Airing their views on the issues, most exporters said it was difficult to convince the buyers to switch over to other currencies from the dollar.

"Dollar is still the darling of buyers and we are trying our best to change that," said one exporter. Even importers from the Asian countries (Far East and West Asia) insist on dollar invoicing, according to them.

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