NEW DELHI: As rupee continued to fall to new record lows on Thursday, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said the Indian currency was overvalued and is moving towards its real value, and that it will not hurt the Indian economy.
“Let’s be clear, the depreciation of the Indian rupee against the dollar is not indicative of a bad time for the Indian economy. Over the past three years, the rupee has been overvalued by approximately 17 per cent and the current depreciation of 9.8 per cent since January is a move towards its natural value,” Kumar tweeted.
Kumar, head of government’s premier policy-making think tank, in another tweet said that the focus should now be on taking advantage of the depreciated rupee in terms of boosting exports and reducing trade deficit.
“A sharper focus needs to be on further improving our export performance. As @nasscom and @anandmahindra, both have said that this depreciation will help boost our exports which will be a sure way to reduce the trade and current account deficits,” he added.
