Intrinsic Value of Rupee

(Published in The new Indian Express on 28 August 2010)
Bikash Choudhury


It is always music to our ears when Global Leaders concede India as emerging Global Power. But, can we eventually, reach that stage without having a strong currency? In my opinion, the current purchasing power and external value of Indian Rupee does not reflect the actual intrinsic value of our currency.
One of the reason being huge cache of green back stashed away offshore; however, recent decision to use Indian symbol for Rupee is a step in right direction.We have to do much more to strengthen it in next ten years.
In supply side, we need to check the proliferation of fake currency by institutionalizing arrangement with all State Govt. & union territory.Further, Union Finance ministry must be proactive enough to bring all unaccounted Indian currency to the mainstream financial system through judicious mix of legislation, policy concessions and coercive measures.
In the other side luckily, two important pieces of legislations, like direct tax code and GST are under various stages of implementation. Other important things that have evaded our collective attention and wisdom are inefficiency in energy transmission systems, that is whopping 40% and wastages in fruits and vegetables that stands at sixty seven thousand crore(16.5 billion USD) as per some recent estimate.
Given a political will and a broad national consensus these challenges can be effectively dealt with in a period of ten years. Last thing but not the least in the list; the opportunity to challenge low cost manufacturing prowess of China by using Distributed Manufacturing paradigm and utilising the services of unemployed and under employed women and men in rural areas. That would have a huge impact on our exports. Our Industry associations like CII & FICCI can play an enabling role in achieving this objective.
If we stay the course of realizing ‘true intrinsic value’ of Indian Rupee with due patience for ten years, we may be able to double the purchasing power and external value of our currency at the end of such exercise.