The rupee is where? Currency collapse confounds India Inc

Indian companies such as Whirlpool of India say they can’t plan more than a couple of months out as a fast-falling rupee currency drives up the cost of imports, forcing them to raise prices even as consumer spending crumbles.

The timing is particularly tough for consumer companies that were counting on India’s September-to-December holiday season to spur sales. India’s consumers, whose spending helped see the country through the global financial crisis in 2008, are closing their wallets, squeezing companies from carmakers to shampoo sellers.

Companies that import finished goods or raw materials are the worst hit as they scramble to hold onto margins while balancing the need to raise prices without deterring buyers.

“We are now planning for a month or three months at best unlike six months or a year earlier,” said Shantanu Dasgupta, vice president for corporate affairs and strategy at Whirlpool of India, the local arm of Whirlpool Corp, the world’s largest home appliance maker.

The Indian rupee has tumbled 17 per cent so far this year and hit an all-time low of 66.30 against the dollar on Tuesday, resisting a spate of interventions by the central bank and the government as investor fears about emerging markets deepened in anticipation of reduced US monetary stimulus.

“A week back in our office we were working at (a rupee exchange rate of) 62 and now it’s at 64 and looks like soon it will fall more and hit 67. How can a business operate when the currency is on a free-fall?” H.S. Bhatia, head of the enterprise business at television maker Videocon Industries, said in an Aug. 21 interview.