A weakening Indian rupee against the US dollar has resulted in a fall of Pakistani imports via the Attari-Wagah land route. Importers claimed a downfall of 30 to35 percent in volume of import of commodities from the neighbouring country because of sharp currency fluctuations.
Adopting a cautious approach, Indian traders have either cut down their new import orders or held them back completely until the rupee stabilises against the dollar.
“Against the average daily arrival of 125 to130 truckloads crossing over to India, we are now receiving just 70 trucks a day carrying commodities like cement, gypsum and chemicals from Pakistan,” Amritsar-based trader Jaspal Singh said.
Indian traders mainly import cement, gypsum, dry fruits and chemicals including soda ash from Pakistan, which are valued at approximately Rs 1,000 crore per annum, importers said.
“Financial transactions between Pakistani and Indian traders at Attari-Wagah route are carried out in US dollars. Sharp fluctuations in the rupee against the US dollar have made imports from Pakistan comparatively costly,” Singh added. The rupee depreciated by over 10 percent against the dollar since this fiscal year begun, even touching an all-time low of 61.21 on July 8.
“Bookings of dry fruits have been 40 percent less this season in contrast to last year as traders fear losses because of weakening rupee against dollar,” dry fruit importer Anil Mehra said.
He said that on an average 1,700,000 bags (70 kg bag) of dry fruits are imported ever year from Pakistan as there is a huge demand for dry fruits across India.
Blaming the centre for its “poor” policies, traders sought early and effective action from the government to curtail the weakening of the rupee against dollar.
“There is huge volatility in the currency and traders are not sure of which rate they will pay after booking orders as the rupee is not stabilising yet. The government needs to step up its efforts to stabalise the currency against the dollar,” trader Rajdeep Uppal said.