Dubai: At 23.16 for one dirham, the Indian rupee has this morning firmed up near to its highest level in the year to date as the US dollar comes under renewed weakness. The current highest year-to-date showing for the rupee is the 23.14 on April 4.
Currency market sources say it’s still not clear whether the higher rupee trend will continue. For Indian expats in the UAE and Gulf, this will mean close tracking of the INR movements over the coming days to decide what will best help them on remittances.
“The INR has strengthened considerably from the year’s lowest point of 23.94, which was on February 10,” said Neelesh Gopalan, senior FX analyst based in Dubai.
“Purely from the actual remittance rates, an Indian expat got rates of 23.50 plus for 2-3 weeks this year. For the major part, sending money home meant rates of 23.30-23.40.
“From those levels, current rates mean Indian expats have lost some of their advantage with the INR firming up.”
Trump tariff pummels the $
Helping the rupee and other major currencies is the continued weakness of the ‘dollar index’, which is now at 98.36 and well off from the 52-week peak of 110.
So, you had one dollar fetching 87.95 rupees on February 10, and the same would get only about 85.3 today.
Now, there is more cheer for Indian markets as foreign exchange reserves have risen by another $1 billion plus to $677.8 billion.
“The higher FX reserves give India some cushion to take on any tariff created volatility,” said an FX trader. “Plus, there will be a lot of expectation around JD Vance’s trip to India, and where a US-India deal framework should make further progress.”
All that would be a net positive for the Indian rupee – and something UAE’s Indian expats need to factor it ahead of sending their next round of funds home.
