Indian Currency Value Should Be 59-60 To A Dollar: Finance Minister

New Delhi, Sept 28, IRNA -- Asserting that the right value of rupee is 59-60 to a dollar, Finance Minister P Chidambaram Friday said that government will make all efforts, including extending priority sector status to export credit, to boost shipments. We think that based on the REER (real effective exchange rate) value, that (59-60) is the right level of the rupee and it should not overshoot its mark. But even at 59-60, I think it is extremely competitive to export to many markets, the Minister told a gathering of exporters lobbies led by the Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation in Mumbai, business capital of India in Maharashtra state, pti reported. I think the rupee has to find its level. We think the level, not only I, but a large number of people, think that the right level of the rupee is between 59 and 60. But that is not something that I am willing to pronounce on, he added. The rupee, which had plunged to a life-time low of 68.85 on August 28 against the dollar, today settled at 62.51, down 44 paise from the previous close. The rupees trouble began after the US central bank hinted in late May that it would stop its USD 85 billion bond buyback program sooner than expected, which led to a flight of capital back to the US shores, as the statement had led to spike in bond yields there. As a result, FIIs pulled out close to USD 13 billion from domestic markets, primarily debt, between end May and August. However, within the first fortnight of the new RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan taking charge, the rupee regained more than 10 per cent of its lost value, though since then it had shed some, following the 25 bps repo rate hike on September 20./end