The Hindu Business Line : ‘Exporters need to have expertise in managing currencies’

Export talk: Mr R.S. Gujral, Director General of Foreign Trade, with Mr A. Sakthivel, Vice-President, FIEO, and Mr M. Rafeeque Ahmed, past President, FIEO, at a meeting in Chennai on Thursday. —

Our Bureau

Chennai, Oct. 11 Car manufacturer Hyundai Motor India wants rail connectivity from Sriperumbudur, where its production facility is located, to Chennai. This, apart from facilitating exports of cars out of the Chennai port, will also help the people working for Hyundai and its suppliers in the region, to commute to work easily, the company said on Thursday.

‘Automobile cluster’

At a meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations here, Hyundai called for declaring Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu as the ‘automobile cluster’. The Director General of Foreign Trade, Mr R S Gujral, said he would look into the matter.

Rupee appreciation

On rupee appreciation against the dollar, Mr Gujral said, exporters need to adjust exceptionally fast to the situation. Exporters do not have an option but to increase prices and reduce cost; create a niche; improve the product quality and efficiency; scale up operations and introduce cost-cutting measures. “You also need to have expertise in managing currencies,” he said.

Mr A. Sakthivel, Vice-President and Chairman, Southern Region, FIEO, urged the DGFT to lower interest rate on pre-shipment and post-shipment credit given to exporters and waive fringe-benefit tax to exporters. This will provide some relief for exporters to mitigate loss being suffered due to the rupee appreciation.

More Stories on : Exports & Imports | Forex | Tamil Nadu

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