The Indian rupee which has appreciated significantly vis-a-vis the US dollar in the last few months is expected to maintain the trend, a top banking industry official said."I expect the rupee to appreciate vis-a-vis the dollar through 2008. However, the appreciation will be gradual and perhaps, not as rapid as it has been in the last few months," ABN Amro Bank's newly-appointed India chief Meera H Sanyal told PTI.
Sanyal recently took over the reins of the bank's Indian operations following the departure of its former chief, Romesh Sobti to private sector lender, IndusInd Bank [Get Quote]. Currency hedging would henceforth assume an important role and corporates should focus on this aspect, Sanyal said.
Praising the Reserve Bank of India [Get Quote] for having done an "excellent job" in maintaining macro-economic stability in the country, Sanyal said that she did not expect any further rate hikes.
"My personal feeling is that there could be a small decline in rates," she said. On inflation, Sanyal said that indications are that it would remain well within the RBI's comfort zone of below five per cent. However, she warned that if global oil prices rose further, then inflation could pose a problem.
"There seems to be no factor, including geo-political, presently which could significantly drive up oil prices," Sanyal said.
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