Raising concerns over the sharp rise in rupee value and increase in prices of steel, Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC) has sought intervention of the commerce ministry to curb such volatility, which it claims to be adversely impacting the sector and acting as a double whammy for engineering exporters in a highly competitive global market.
EEPC said that they have sought urgent attention of the government on these two issues, since these developments are making it extremely difficult for exporters to face international competition more so when the global conditions are one of protectionism and competing countries.
The exporter's body urged that engineering exporters should be provided steel at the export prices of domestic steel companies, noting that the sharp appreciation has come together with an increase in Indian steel prices from $ 582 per ton in September 2016 to $712 per ton in March 2017 implying an increase of nearly 22.5 per cent within a span of six months.
EEPC had recently requested the RBI and the government to keep a close watch on a rupee, saying that exporters cannot afford such volatility with pressure of value erosion and noted that the debilitating impact of sharp rise in rupee against dollar in the last three months might derail the exports recovery.