Terming depreciation in the rupee of around 12 percent as a temporary phenomenon, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has said that the government will very soon implement the second set of measures including curb on imports of several non-essential items to bring rupee to 68-70 level against the US dollar. He also said that the Centre has prepared a list of non-essential items whose imports can be curbed and also drawn up a separate list of goods whose exports can be boosted with a little policy intervention.
On the rupee continuing to fall despite the first set of measures, Garg said “full components of the steps have not been implemented as yet, especially curb on import of non-essential items and boosting some of the exports etc. Those are still to come. These measures are at the final stage. Very soon, these should be announced.” He also said that a group headed by the Commerce Secretary has more or less completed its task on finalising the list and once it gets the nod from higher-ups, it will be announced and will happen very early.
DEA secretary further said that the government is worried about the rupee’s slump and its adverse impact on the Current Account Deficit (CAD). He indicated that the CAD as a percentage of GDP declined marginally to 2.4 percent in the April-June quarter of 2018-19 against 2.5 percent in the year-ago period. Adding further, he said that the fall in rupee has shot up the crude oil import bill for the world’s fastest-growing oil user by 76 percent to $10.2 billion in July. He added that the right level for the rupee is 68-70 per dollar, with 72 being the reasonable outer limit for depreciation.