UK opportunity opens as rupee drop continues
WITH the rupee spending most of yesterday at a record low of 100 to the pound, UK firms may benefit from the pound’s rising value against the Indian currency.
The Reserve Bank of India began to intervene yesterday, saying it would spend 80bn rupees (£795m) on government bonds.
Though many investors are moving away from emerging markets, Alpesh Patel of the UK India Business Council said there will be opportunities for British firms in India: “Indian assets are now half the price that they were three or four years ago. This is actually an asset purchasing opportunity”. He added: “The quality doesn’t change with the exchange rate”.
Patel also said that he did not expect the sudden rise in the cost of British assets to scare Indian business away: “I think perversely this is going to increase investment in the UK from Indian companies. Domestic trouble is another reminder that it’s a good idea to diversity abroad”.
Sourindra Banerjee of Warwick Business School added: “I don’t see any panic situation. India is not the India of 20 years ago. It’s a much larger economy and things are much more stable”.