The Hindu Business Line : `Rising rupee will dent home textile exports'

Coimbatore April 26 Exporters of home textiles from the handloom town of Karur fear that the strengthening rupee will severely dent shipments of made-ups, which are a key value-earner in the country's textile export basket.

Impact

"With the rupee having breached the psychological barrier mark of 41 against the dollar, our future export orders would not be competitive if the currency is allowed on its upward spiral," said Mr Susindran, CEO of Sabare International Ltd, a home textile exporting company.

According to him, the impact of the rising rupee on textile exports would be felt over the next two months.

The home textiles shippers who will have to book future orders under the new conversion rate may find it difficult to convince buyers, he told Business Line.

Exports

The export deliveries to be made in August/September would be hit.

Mr Susidran anticipates that textile exporters would lose one-fourth of the usual orders to Pakistan or China, which continue to retain price competitiveness vis-à-vis India.

Mr Siva Kannan, former Chairman of the Handloom Export Promotion Council and Managing Director of the Karur-based Amaravathi Textiles, said that all the textile made-ups shipments being undertaken now were booked when the rupee was quoting at 44.

As such, the exporters will hardly be able to cope with such a fall in realisation.

With supply chain difficulties normally associated with all local textile production centres leading to delivery hiccups, most home textiles exporters in the region don't opt for forward cover for currency fluctuation.

The unrelenting surge in rupee value will thus leave exporters at the mercy of importers, Mr Siva Kannan added.

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