Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
M99BSS – DISSERTATION
09 September 2010
Submitted by
Ronaldo J. F. Ribeiro
SID - 2917162
MBA FINANCE
Impact of Currency Fluctuation on Leather Industry in India
Chapter Headings
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................... 4
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 7
7. Appendix..................................................................................................................... 54
List of Tables
Sr. No. Description Page No.
1 Export Scenario for the last 5 years 22
2 Yearly Exchange Variation in USD 30
3 Yearly Exchange Variation in Euro 30
4 Yearly Exchange Variation in GBP 31
5 Actual PPP Deviation in U.S. Dollar 32
6 Actual PPP Deviation in Euro 34
7 Actual PPP Deviation in GBP 36
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I owe my gratitude and sincere thanks to my supervisor Dr. Steward Hughes for his
supervision, support and guidance from the preliminary stage till the concluding stage
of my dissertation. He has enabled me to develop an understanding, which helped in
completing my research.
My deepest gratitude and appreciation goes to my mother, employer and other family
members for providing their support financially and morally throughout my MBA
Finance Degree.
Lastly, I am grateful and thankful to all colleagues who have helped me succeed in
my dissertation research work and also in other modules of my Masters.
Executive Summary
The research analyzes the exchange rate variation and the sensitivity of purchasing
power, industry competitiveness and import and export. The study is carried out to
test that nominal exchange rate affects the purchasing power of the foreign countries
and real exchange rate affects the competitiveness of the industries against other
countries. The testing of the nominal and real exchange rate deviation will illustrate
affects on import and export of the leather industries. Hence the imports and exports
will affect the profit margin of the leather industry and the trade, which will
simultaneously affect the Indian economy.
The research has been done as per the current scenario of currency fluctuation that
occurred due to Euro crises. The crises created fear for the leather producing and
exporting firms and later it had affected the exports of the Leather industry. The
affects on the exports were due to the appreciation of the Rupee against the Euro
which reduced the purchasing power of the European nations. The effect on the
Leather industry is due to the dependence on the European Union nations for the
sale and exports of its finished products. The effects were delay in orders from
European Nations, some companies were asked to hold orders and some other firms
refused to accept immediate delivery.
The research is carried out with the evaluating the nominal exchange rate by
computing the change and justifying the affects of exchange rate fluctuation on the
purchasing power of foreign countries. Another method is the evaluation of the real
exchange rate and justifying the effects of deviation on Purchasing Power Parity
Theory. The Purchasing Power Parity Theory provides the information of how much
the competitiveness of the Indian Industries is affected and the purchasing power has
appreciated and depreciated from other countries. Hence this will illustrate that the
fluctuation in nominal and real exchange rate affects imports and exports of leather
industry.
The results of the research have been that in recent past the currency fluctuation has
affected not only the leather industry but also other industries that are involved in
manufacturing and exports of good to other countries. The currency fluctuation has
affected the leather industry due to the reduction in the purchasing power of the
foreign countries, but the affect is higher from European Union nations. The other
effect is the competitiveness of the Industries that has been deteriorated due to
higher deviation in the real exchange rate from the purchasing power parity. The
exchange rate variation has affected import and export of the Leather industry due to
appreciation of rupee and depreciation in competitiveness.
The limitation of this research is that there are many other factors that affect import
and export, as in this research the exchange rate fluctuation has been analyzed and
hence further scope of rigorous analysis can be done along these lines of research.
This can be done by using a more comprehensive framework, and by including other
sources of risk. The comprehensive framework would be appropriate for better
understanding of the impact of currency variation. The other limitation is the import
and export details for a short period and with the limited time period for the research.
1. Introduction
1.0 Background
The floating exchange regime has noticed an increased variation in the exchange
rate due to financial reforms and liberalization of trade. In the past several years
fluctuations in exchange rate has been a major concern of macroeconomic ambiguity
affecting firms in international trade. The exchange rate variation has been of rising
significance to individuals, business organization and policy makers says (Rashid:
2009) & (Levich, Wihlborg: 1980). As per Aliber (1972, 1976) and Ahmad (1984)
reveal that the commercial traders in the flexible regime may face the exchange risk
and the price risk. The study of (Davis, Coates, Collier and Longden 1991: vii) and
Prindl (1976:1) divulge that from 1970s there has been tremendous escalation with
the integration of international trade and financial markets. As Prindl (1976:3) reveals
the monetary system is always extremely unstable and is complicated to forecast the
currency in the short run.
It has been put into words by Bradley and Moles (1998) that the exchange rate
difference is unpredictable to all nations and this effect can be positive or negative to
the nations. The variation in exchange rate occurs every day which affects different
countries purchasing power continuously and will also affect the profitability of the
firms. The exchange rate change will be an appreciation or devaluation of currency
and this will affect different sectors that are involved in foreign trade. The devaluation
of a domestic currency will increase the purchasing power of foreign countries which
will give rise to export and decline in imports due to increase cost of foreign goods.
On the other side the affect will be just the opposite when the domestic currency
appreciates and be stronger against other currencies it will decline export and
increase in import which will affect the trade balance of the country.
The multinational companies have penetrated into different market with the
development of technology, which create employment opportunities for personnel of
different nationalities. The investor’s portfolio values and organization profitability are
frequently affected due to variation in the exchange rate. Internationaltrade (2009)
make public that currency fluctuation are of major concern for Small & Medium
Enterprises as 56 percent confirm for not managing the risk while other 44 percent
are using some measures to protect their business from exchange risk. Mitra (2006)
conveys that the knowledge of currency movement has become of utmost importance
for the corporate executive. Hence Vij (2009) unveil that the fluctuation in exchange
rate has become an essential concern for the investors and managers. The
companies that are involved in large transactions of import and export are affected
even with a slight appreciation or devaluation of exchange rate. The sudden change
in the exchange will generate the companies either a potential loss or gain in foreign
currency transactions.
It has been put across by Harker J. (2009) that UK cycle industry was affected by the
wide fluctuation and weakening of the British Pound. Reuters (2010) reveals that the
Mastek Ltd a software firm has made a loss of 54.19% during the 1st quarter of 2010
when compared to previous year and also suffered a loss in the previous year due to
currency fluctuation. Economic Times (2010) convey that a senior company official of
Levi Strauss & Calvin Klein conveys that the company’s global business is affected
due to consumer spending and currency fluctuation. Resource center-RCIP (2010)
divulges that the Euro zone debt crises of the will reduce the profit margin of SME
leather exporters due to the escalation of the rupee against Euro. Another issue RTT
News (2010) informs that the currency fluctuation will affect export due to the
appreciation of Euro and U.S. Dollar against Rupee and the exporters due to the
increase in the cost of raw materials have planned to increase price of products. Ojo
(2008) reveals that the fiscal results are been affected and the competitiveness has
also been skewing due to limited control of the organization.
As we have seen in recent past that fear of Euro appreciation has been a concern of
the major growing leather industry in India. The leather industry caters to a wide array
of product demands both at domestically and internationally. The indianleatherportal
(2010) made known that the Indian Leather Industry is important for the Indian
Economy, as it is the top 8th export industry earning foreign currency. The council for
leather (2010) reveals that the leather industry is employing about 2.5 million people
form weak society and the women contribute 30% employment which is largest in the
Figure 1: Total leather products exported country wise (Council for Leather Export
2010)
1.1 Hypothesis:
The Indian Leather industry involved in import and export is affected due currency
fluctuation and the industry could benefit from hedging which can offset the currency
fluctuation in future.
• What has been the history of currency in the Fixed and Flexible exchange
regime?
• What is currency fluctuation and what are the factors affecting currency
fluctuation?
• What are the problems in recent times that have affected the leather industry
by currency fluctuation?
• In the current scenario what should the individual firms do to ensure that they
are not affected by the fluctuation?
• To evaluate and justify that fluctuation in Nominal exchange rate affects the
purchasing power of foreign nations.
• To evaluate and justify that Real exchange rate deviation in the Purchasing
Power Parity affects the competitiveness of Leather Industry.
Academic: I would like to explore more in the module that I have studied during my
degree in MBA. Hence to carry out study on Impact of Currency Fluctuation on
Industry, I could gain much deeper knowledge of the Purchasing Power Parity, to find
the deviation in the competitiveness of the Industry with the theory of Purchasing
Power Parity by computing the real exchange rate. Also check for the measures to
mitigate the risk of currency fluctuation.
Business: As most of the organization now days, are involved in international trade
and currency fluctuation affects organization either by transaction, translation and
economic exposure. Hence with this research knowledge l will be able to find out
which currency has high risk and suggest measure to mitigate the risk.
2. Literature review
Shamah (2008) notified that the British Pound was devalued due to high inflation, low
productivity in 1967 which increased deficit in balance of payment. The Dollar which
was linked to the Gold was devalued, due the devaluation of the British pound and
Vietnam War. The gold price remained the same even after the devaluation of dollar
and could not find the equilibrium value. The imbalance in the Gold price led to the
collapse of the Bretton Woods’s agreement and end to the system of convertible
currencies, fixed rates and free trade. The ‘Smithsonian Agreement’ was formed to
repair the Bretton Woods agreement but did not succeed and was terminated in
1973. In April 1972 the first European monetary system was promoted by Germany
known as ‘snake’ and this system had a narrow fluctuation which did not last for long.
Schifferes (2008) conveys that the floating exchange regime had high rate of
currency fluctuation and the central banks faced a major challenge in the
accomplishing of exchange rate policies. The currency fluctuations led to great
opportunities for market players to take advantage of the currency volatilities.
In March 1992, India followed a dual exchange rate system known as “Liberalized
exchange rate management system” which is conveyed by Udeshi (2004) and Mitra
(2006). Later March1993, the dual exchange rate changed and created a market
determined exchange rate regime as conveyed by Udeshi (2004) and Rajan (2008).
Udeshi (2004) put across that in 1994 IMF Article VIII Agreement accepted the
current account convertibility. In Nov 1994 an expert group was appointed to design
foreign exchange market. The group study recommendation of which a few are
mentioned as follows allowing banks to borrow and invest in foreign markets, use of
derivative and for the corporate the use of forward contracts, currency swaps for
hedging long term exposure.
that country. Hence the exchange rate price is important for the economy, as this will
generate an adjustment in the price of the commodity.
the book value of assets and liabilities in balance sheet, when expressed in other
currencies. As Prindl (1976:2) narrates that the organizations due to exchange
rate volatility are unfavorably affected by translation loss which is a cause for
diminishing the market value.
2) The Economic exposures relate to economic changes and Lipson (2009) conveys
that exchange rate variation can be an economic factor that affects the value of
the organization as per Lipson (2009). The economic exposure includes:
Transaction exposure which occurs when organizations have business contracts
and earning in foreign currency. Operational exposures which occurs when the
cash flow earnings are in foreign currency that may be known in advance and can
use different methods to mitigate risk.
Prindl A. (1976:21) reveals that the effects of economic exposure are seen on the
company’s liquidity, entire operations, financial structure and profits. The economic
exposure is concern for the value of organization and the future cash flow which may
arise due to change in exchange rate. Hence the economic exposure is most
essential for the long term future of an organization. The organization involved in
import and export generally face the risk of economic exposure, when the purchasing
power of the domestic currency is devalued against the foreign currency.
1967 – 1969 for the fixed exchange regime and from 1973 – 1974 for the flexible
exchange regime, where it showed five to ten times higher deviation in the flexible
exchange regime. The higher deviation has increased the importance of price risk in
the purchasing power parity. However he finds that the Purchasing power parity
prices of commodities are set by the market conditions and arbitrage system.
The previous research of (Aliber & Stickney 1975, Grauer, Litzenberger and stehle:
1976 and Giddy 1977) said that exchange rate and inflation depend on each other,
but has identified very slight relationship between exchange rate and inflation.
Whereas the investigation of Hooper and Kohlhagen (1978) were not able to uncover
considerable effect of international trade due to variation in exchange rate. Hence
(Levich and Wihlborg: 1980) says that more findings are still required to know effects
of exchange rate changes on MNC.
In respect to effects on currency fluctuation Kandil & Mirzaie (2003) has conducted
study on Output and Prices level with a sample of 33 developing countries, where he
reveals the unexpected currency fluctuation are having higher effect on output growth
and price inflation. Kandil (2004) provided evidence on economic activity on
developing countries and confirms that the depreciation of currency provides negative
effect on the economic performance. Kandil, Berument and Dincer (2006) had done
study on economic activity in Turkey and discover that unexpected depreciation
shrinks the output growth and also the growth of consumption and investment. Kandil
(2008) conducted studies on macro-economic interaction channel on developed and
developing countries. He finds progress in the trade balance due to currency
depreciation and also improvement in the competitiveness of exports in developing
countries. In another study Kandil (2008) investigates the asymmetric effects in
developing countries on output and prices and finds that the supply channel with
unexpected currency depreciation leads to reduction in output and price inflation. All
the studies of Kandil had proved the currency fluctuation is the major issue that
affects the economy and output of the country.
The reading of Bordo, Meissner and Weidenmier (2007) authenticate that the
depreciation in exchange rate can considerably raise the superiority risk if the country
has foreign currency debt. Lizardo and Mollick (2009) also endorse that the oil prices
increase directly proportional to major devaluation of USD and other oil exporter
currencies. While Tille (2006) show from his work that exchange rate movement
affect different sectors and the depreciation will increase the welfare and competition
in foreign market but the depreciation will also affect domestic competition.
Dekle and Ryoob (2007) study the firms that are looming in financing constraints as
well as hedging and exports. He proves financial constraints affects more than the
currency fluctuation. Here Li, Lui and song (2006) shows how currency fluctuation
affect exports and indicates that depreciation of currency have positive effect. Ihrig
and Prior (2005) have conducted examination on the effect of exchange rate
exposure on U. S. Manufacturing firms and found that some firms are significantly
affected during the period of crises where as some are affected during the normal
exchange rate variation.
Choi & Prasad (1995) has investigated the exchange rate sensitivity on US
multinational firms and found sixty percent have gained during the depreciation of
dollar. Even the research of Rashid (2009) on 22 Industries in developing countries
found that some industrial sectors were highly vulnerable to variation in exchange
rate. A recent study on IT Industry by Dash & Madhava (2008) has disclosed that the
whole IT industry revenue was decreased by six percent in 2005 with the study
carried out, where small-cap firms were largely affected, mid-cap and large-cap were
not much affected as they had hedge the risk. Bradley and Moles (2001) verify
exchange rate exposure on non-financial U.K firms, where they confirm stability in the
economic exposure. Their earlier research confirms considerable effect on industry of
economic exposure. Bradley and Moles (2001) also found that 75% of the company’s
involved in export had to manage their volumes or margin due the exchange rate
variation. Vij (2009) identified from his survey of CFOs that most of the companies
CFOs are aware about translation, transaction and economic exposure, where he
also mentions that very few companies don’t hedge. Vij (2009) also recommends
some measures which can be used by companies for hedging the risk. Sanyal,
Banerjee and Majumder (2010) conducted a study on the Leather Industry in India by
using the Constant Market Share (CMS) Analysis, to find the change in export from
(1991-2006) and conveys that the leather export has been seen decreasing due the
change in demand in the world, change and market competiveness.
It is put in writing by IANS (2010) tells that exporters of leather are worried cause of
currency fluctuation as 75 % of the exports are generated by the European countries.
Venkatraman (2010) divulges that currency fluctuation has affected the leather
industry which would reduce the export and profit margin due to the appreciation of
Rupee against Euro. The export survey conducted by FICCI (2010) found high
variation in exchange rate, risk of exports slowdown and due to the increasing price
of oil and raw materials. They also noticed signs of delaying orders from the EU
region and also some companies in India were asked to hold back the dispatch of
consignment. There have been some other cases where buyers refused to accept
immediate delivery and the exporting firms had to take temporary place for storing the
goods.
The fiber2fashion (2010) reveal that leather industry in Kanpur has been severely
affected due to rupee appreciation to 57 from the range of 68-70 exchange rate which
has reduced the exports to European Countries. Sourcejuice (2010) reveal that in
June the leather exports fell by 3% due to euro debt crises and the rupee
appreciation by 9 % against Euro. The reduction in leather exports will affect the jobs
and enforce the leather firms to reduce their product price. It has also been known to
exports agents that the European countries are now sourcing from other exporting
countries like Africa and Latin America. Resource center – RCIP (2010) conveys that
the euro crises can affect the profit margins and hence will difficult to remain in the
market. The players in the leather industry are small & cottage leather manufacturers
and do not have the financial potential to use hedging techniques.
The major affect that the industry faced is the export of goods to the European Union
nations. The effect has reduced the competitiveness against other countries and also
the purchasing power of the foreign nations has impacted the exports of the leather
industry. The impact can be seen in the exports of the industry in this current year as
per the export scenario for the past 5 years.
Figure 2: Export Scenario for the last 5 years (Council for Leather Export 2010)
Table 1: Export Scenario for the last 5 years (Council for Leather Export 2010)
3. Research Methodology
The purpose this research is to explore in details, the variation in exchange rate
fluctuation and the deviation in purchasing power parity. The exchange rate variation
and deviation in Purchasing power parity affects the competitiveness of the industry
as per study of Eun C. and Resnick B. (2009). The exploration will help to explain
how the competitiveness of the Leather industry in import and export is been affected
due to the impact of variation in exchange rate and PPP deviation.
The strategy of the research is based on an experiment, to find out the variation in the
nominal and real exchange rate that affects the purchasing power of foreign nations.
This experiments outcome will facilitate in proving that the variation in exchange rate
affects the import and export of the leather Industry.
The technique that is used in the data collection will be quantitative, as my research
analysis includes historical statistical data. The graphs will be generated through the
use of this statistical numerical data. As an investigator, I do not exercise any control
over the fluctuations in the exchange rate, as multiple set of case study will thus be
helpful. A study of different cases will give a broad understanding of the impact of the
fluctuations in currency on the Industry.
In view of the time horizon the study will be conducted on longitudinal basis, where
the data will be collected for the past 10 years, to verify the effect of currency
fluctuation with the purchasing power parity. As the export monthly data for the
industries is difficult to obtain monthly data for the past ten years and therefore the
data will be collected for the available months.
The research findings will not provide the reliability that all other researchers might
find with the similar observation, as it may differ from the thoughts of one person to
another. The transparency will be maintained by providing the reference in
bibliography. The data that will be collected form reliable source and hence the
analysis will be true, according to the Purchasing Power Parity Theory.
Oanda (2010). This website will provide me the data on average daily and yearly
basis which will be used for generating the graph and evaluating how much
percentage of fluctuation has taken place every year over the past 10 years.
The data collection for computing the deviation in purchasing power parity will require
inflation rate for India, United States, European Area and United Kingdom. The data
will be collected from different websites like CIA – TheWorldFactbook,
Tradingeconomics and Reserve Bank of India. The data will facilitate me to achieve
the Real Exchange rate to find the deviation in the purchasing power parity of the
foreign nation, which affects the competitiveness of the Indian leather Industry.
1. In the exchange rate evaluation the data is collected on daily basis for past 10
years from the online resource database “OANDA” The statistical graph will be
generated with the data collected with INR rates for the currencies of major
importers of leather products. Also the yearly average data for exchange rate will
be collected to find the deviation percentage in exchange rate by using the
horizontal analysis. The method used to find the percentage deviation in nominal
exchange rate is as follows:
2. In carrying out the analysis with the Purchasing power Parity Theory, which is
based on the theory testing of the economists David Ricardo and Gustav Cassel.
The Purchasing Power Parity theory suggests applying “Law of One Price” for a
standard basket internationally. In Eun and Resnick (2009) theory says that “the
exchange rate of two countries should be equal to the ratio of the countries price
level.
To calculate the real exchange for purchasing power parity we first need to find the
deviation in the nominal exchange rate which is given above.
Further the task involves collecting the inflation rate from tradingeconomics.com
(2010) for India, United States, European Area and United Kingdom. Then
calculate the q, which is the real exchange rate. The q, measure the real exchange
deviation from purchasing power parity with the method as follows:
In the above equation q, is the real exchange rate, π dom is the domestic inflation
rate, e, is the deviation in the nominal exchange rate and π for is the foreign nation
inflation rate. The results will be generated into a graph to find the competitiveness
of the domestic industry as follows:
Q = 1 the competitiveness of the domestic is at unity
Q < 1 the competitiveness of the domestic country has appreciated
Q > 1 the competitiveness of the domestic country has depreciated
If the purchasing power parity holds then real exchange rate will be at unity.
However, most often the purchasing power parity does not hold than real
exchange rate will deviate by greater than one or less than one. The change in the
real exchange occurs due to the change in the nominal exchange rate, which is
due to the adjusted inflation in the nominal exchange rate.
3. The statistical data for import and export will be collected from Reserve Bank of
India (2010). The import export data will be analyzed to find the deviation in the
import and export of the collected data. The data will be compared with the
exchange rate and the purchasing power parity and the hypothesis will be proved
whether the fluctuation in the exchange rate affects import and exports.
identical. Also the exchange rate is taken on the daily and yearly average which might
not be accurate.
The Purchasing power limitation is that the basket of goods is not identical to all
countries, as the choice and preference of the people differ in different countries.
Hence the nominal exchange rate and the real exchange rate might generate and
error in the deviation of the purchasing power parity. The calculation of purchasing
power will be difficult as there are many other factors affecting the purchasing power
parity. The Purchasing Power Parity theory is a long term theory as this theory
requires time to react to the exchange differences and return to equilibrium. Hence
the theory does not work well to find the Purchasing Power Parity deviation for the
shorter term as it shows a continuous fluctuation in the real exchange rates. The
other limitation of the Purchasing Power Parity theory is that it does not take in to
account the taxes, quotas and tariff while calculating the purchasing power.
I will deal politely with others who share different opinions about my research and
treat them and their opinions with respect.
The information collected will be strictly used for my research and academic purpose.
My research supervisor will be notified about my progress on a constant basis.
The data obtained will be confidential and stored securely. I will also ensure that my
research will not be of any physical, cultural and psychological effect to the research
participants or any other parties involved.
3.5.0 Plagiarism
I will definitely acknowledge and give total credit to the intellectual capital of the
rightful owners thereby ensuring the integrity of others works.
The investigation with exchange rate the collection involves collecting the historical
exchange rate data of past ten years for major currencies like United States - Dollar,
European Union - Euro and Great Britain - Pound. The exchange rates for the
currencies are collected with the Indian rupee (INR) value. The exchange rate
collection of data has been center of attention that the data should be for the
countries that are mostly involved in trade with the Indian leather industry and facing
the effects of currency fluctuations. The leading countries for import of leather
finished products are the European nations followed by the United States, Great
Britain and other Asian countries. The information will provide the basic
understanding of the foreign countries deviation in purchasing power, whether it has
increased or decreased against the Indian Rupee in the past several years. In this
analysis the foreign currencies will be compared against the value of the Indian rupee
for 10 years and also an explanation will be provided how the industry is affected due
to currency fluctuation.
The second investigation is with the real exchange rate deviation in the Purchasing
Power Parity Theory that involves collection of inflation rate data for India, Europe,
United Kingdom and United States. Also making use of the exchange rate of the
foreign nations mentioned above in the previous exchange rate analysis. The inflation
is basically the rise in prices of goods and services over a period of time in an
economy. The information collected will be used in finding the expected and actual
real exchange rate deviation in purchasing power parity for the past 10 years. The
deviation in the purchasing power parity will show how much the industry
competitiveness and the purchasing power of foreign countries have been affected.
The affects may be caused due the appreciation or depreciation of the exchange rate
and economical forces, which affects the price of the product and the purchasing
power.
The above data analysis of the nominal and real exchange rate will be used in
proving that in the current scenario the purchasing power of the foreign country has
been diminished against the rupee, which affects the industry in the short run. The
exchange rate cannot be predicted accurately due to unexpected factors that affect
the country’s exchange rate. Hence the purchasing power of foreign country is
affected due to the exchange rate, which in turn will affect import and export of the
leather industry.
4.1 Data Analysis and Presentation
Figure 3: Exchange Rate in INR for USD, Euro and GBP (OANDA: 2010)
In view of the retrospect, the dollar against rupee from 2000 to 2002 depreciated and
was hovering in between 43.42 to 49.18 with the average escalated by 8.28% (44.95
- 48.68). The rupee appreciated from 2003 until 2005 and floating around 43.02 to
48.04 with an average increase by 9.37% (48.68 to 44.12) against dollar. In 2006,
rupee depreciated by floating around 43.84 to 46.94 with average decrease of 2.73%
(44.12 - 45.32). The rupee in 2007 again appreciated by floating around 39.23 –
44.69 with average increase by 8.74% (45.32 – 41.36) against the dollar. In 2008 to
2009, rupee depreciated by floating around 24.17 – 53.97 with average decrease by
18.12 (41.35 – 48.85) and in 2010 rupee appreciated with floating around 43.84 –
47.74 with average increase by 5.61% (48.85 – 46.11) against the dollar till date. The
Dollar depreciation was high in 2007 with the high appreciation in 2009 and is
currently prevailing at Rs 46/USD.
The Rupee in 2000 to 2001 was floating between Rs 38.68 – 44.99 with average
increase by 1.95% against Euro. However, the Indian rupee continued depreciating
against the Euro from 2002 until 2004 floating around 41.57 – 59.94 and with an
average decrease of 33.18% (42.34 – 56.39) in 3 years. The rupee appreciated in
2005 by floating around 51.93 - 58.98 with average increase of 2.60% (56.39 –
54.92). The rupee from 2006 to 2009 floated around 52.63 – 72.01 with an average
decrease by 23.88 against Euro. The rupee showed a slight appreciation in 2007 by
an average increase of 0.59% against Euro. In 2010 rupee floated around (56.08 –
67.38) and appreciated by average 10.63% (68.04 – 60.80) against Euro. The Euro
Nation debt crises can be suspected as the primary fueling factor for loss of currency
competitiveness. The euro appreciation was high in 2003 & 2008 but this year the
depreciation of euro is at a high rate.
In 2000 to 2004 the rupee depreciated continuously for consecutive 4 years and
floated around 64.03 – 86.62 with an average decrease by 21.97% (68.12 – 83.09)
against GBP. However in 2001 the rupee appreciated by the average of 0.07%
against the GBP. In 2005 rupee appreciated with an average increase of 3.36%
(83.08 – 80.29) and floated around 75.62 – 84.24 against GBP. The rupee in 2006
depreciated with an average decrease of 4.05% (80.29 – 83.54) and floated around
76.65 – 88.96 against GBP. The rupee continued appreciating for consecutive 4
years from 2007 until 2010 by floating around 65.78 – 87.66 and with an average
increase of 15.47% (83.54 – 70.62) against GBP. The rupee has more appreciation
has been high in 2009 & increased again in 2010 against the Great Britain Pound.
The competitiveness of India had depreciated in the first six months of 2000 and later
appreciated until July 2001 but in Jan-01 the competitiveness was very close to unity.
Again after July 2001 the competitiveness kept on hovering by Jan 03 came close to
unity. The domestic competition in Feb-02 continued hovering around 1.01 to 1.03
until April-05 with competition increase for the next 3 months. It again decreased in
Aug-05 to Nov-05 and continued floating around 1.006 to 1.086 from Dec-05 to Apr-
08. The competiveness was still floating around 0.982 – 1.032 from May-08 to Oct-08
but after that the competiveness continued a decrease and floating around 1.04 to
1.158 from Nov 08 to June 2010. The measure deviation in the start form the
purchasing power parity was less but continuously increased from Sept- 06 the
deviation was less form purchasing power parity.
The competitiveness of India had declined in the first six months and later continued
flutuating in competitiveness around 0.9596 to 1.0577 from Jul-00 to Jul 04. The
competitiveness of india still deteroited which was much more from the previous
years floating around 0.9851 and 1.0847 from Aug-04 to Dec-07. There was an
improvement in the compitiveness with the actual fluctuation around 0.974 to 1.1254
from Jan-08 to Dec-08. In the year Jan-09 to Sep-09 the compitiveness depreciated
with the fluctuation around 1.0105 to 1.1198 and later it worsened even more by
fluctuation around 1.1211 and 1.1953 from Oct-09 to Jun-10. The real exchange rate
had been continously deviated forn purchasing power parity. Even the expected real
exchange rate is also deviated from actual real exchange rate.
The competiveness of India is depreciated in the in the first 6 months but has seen an
improvement from Jul-00 to Sep-06 by floating around 0.9725 to 1.0615. The next
month again the competitiveness of India has depreciated by the deviation around
1.0124 to 1.0776 from Oct-06 to Apr-08 and a slight improvement in May-08.
However it has again seen further competiveness depreciation by deviating around
1.0206 to 1.1760 from Jun-08 to Jun-10. Even deviation between Expected exchange
rate and the Actual exchange which has been deviating at a high rate from the
purchasing power parity. It has also shown an improvement in Apr. & June 2010.
The above Export and Import Figure 7, shows the details from Jan 2008 to Sept 2009
where in the first 4 months the export have been seen reducing until Apr 2008. It can
be noticed increase in the imports from Feb-08 this is due to the appreciation of rupee
which increased the purchasing power of the Indian Rupee. The rupee is again
depreciated against all major currencies from May to August 2008 and can be noticed
an increase in exports taken place with a high increase in July-08. However the rupee
appreciates from Sept to Oct 08 which reveals reduction in export and with a slight
increase in imports. In Nov-Dec 08 rupee depreciates against USD and Euro but
appreciates against GBP which still reveals a rise to export and import. Later from
Jan-09 to Apr-09 rupee appreciated against GBP and Euro that initiate reduction in
import and export from Feb to Jun-09 which is caused due to appreciation of Rupee.
The currencies from Jul-09 till Sep-09 the rupee depreciates against Euro and GBP
that gives a rise to exports.
Now looking at the analysis carried out with the Theory of Purchasing Power Parity,
where we find the real exchange rate by extracting the inflation and check how much
the deviation is from the Purchasing Power Parity. If the Indian rupee decline less
than the inflation than this causes a decline in competitiveness of the Indian
Industries trading in the international market as the real exchange rate will be greater
than unity. The competitiveness of the firms against U. S. Dollar was not at high
decline, but which has increased much higher from Dec 08 to Jun-10 that has
deteriorated the competitiveness of the Indian industry international trade. The Euro
has been continuously hovering around 0.96 to 1.08 but in the recent period from Nov
09 the competitiveness of the Indian Industry has decline which affects the
purchasing power of the foreign countries. The British pound also had continuous
hovering around 0.973 to 0.093 from Jan-00 to Oct-08. The competitiveness of the
Industry has decline much higher from Sep-09 to May-10 and also an improvement in
Jun-10 against British Pound.
In current year 2010 the Indian Rupee has appreciated against these major
currencies with Euro by 10.6%, GBP by 7.5% and USD by 5.6% and even the
competitiveness of the Industry has depreciated against all the major countries. There
has been a slight improvement against the British pound and Euro. However It has
been noted that the inflation of the developing countries is always at a high rate. In
the recent months the competitiveness of India has depreciated against all the major
currencies. This will affect the purchasing power of the foreign countries which will
decrease export and affect the trade balance which in turn will affect the GDP of the
country.
The export and import of the Leather Industry is affected due the exchange rate
fluctuation. If Indian Rupee depreciates it will increase in the purchasing power and
simultaneously increase in export and it will cause a vise versa effect when the Indian
Rupee appreciates, which will give a rise to Imports. The impact on import is low due
to large availability of raw materials domestically but the effect is high on exports is
much high due reduction in sale of goods. Thus the currency fluctuation affects
occurs for a short period and will come to a balance due to the demand and supply of
currency and the market conditions. These are the economic exposure which affects
the Industry that are not within the control but can use some measures to prevent
from these exposures.
5.0 Conclusions
The exchange rate variation has affected different industries in the recent past, which
had occurred due the Financial Crises of December 2007 which devalued the dollar
against the Rupee. The recent Euro crises have affected the exporting firms and as
per the recent scenario due to devaluation of the Euro against the Indian Rupee have
affected the leather firms. The leather firms that are dealing in import and export have
faced an adverse effect of currency fluctuation in the past few months as the Rupee
appreciated against the Euro at a very high rate. The devaluation of Euro had
reduced the purchasing power of the European Nations and had affected the sales of
the leather industry. The customers of the Euro Nations had requested some
companies to hold back the shipment, in another case the customers refused to
accept the immediate delivery. Hence the Indian leather firms had to rent a temporary
store to stock the shipment. The leather firms had been worried as 75 % the leather
export is to the European nations and the firms could not absorb the currency
fluctuation. The leather industry had been doing well till the recession but still the
growth has been positive. The appreciation of the rupee has affected the profit
margins of the leather firms and this affect might initiate them to shut down the firm.
The nominal exchange rate variation affects the purchasing power of the foreign
companies. It has been seen in the analysis that the currencies used in my analysis
had been appreciating from the year 2001 to 2005 and later depreciated in 2008 due
to the Financial Crises problem. The Financial Crises the U.S Dollar was devalued
that caused problem for most of the companies had been affected in their export and
also the leather industry. Again in 2009, the evaluation of major currencies had seen
a depreciation of Rupee that gave a rise to the purchasing power of foreign countries.
In the recent past the Rupee appreciated against the major currencies with a high
appreciation against the Euro, which has affected the leather small and cottage firms.
The purchasing power of the European Nations had decreased due to the high
depreciation of Euro which affected the Leather industry in India.
The Real Exchange rate evaluation has seen that in the past the real exchange
deviation against the Dollar, Euro and Pound had not been very high which can be
noticed in the evaluation of each currency Purchasing Power Parity figures. Hence,
the real exchange rate did not affect largely the competitiveness of the Indian
Industries in the past. The deviation in recent past was very high against the major
leather importing countries, which had reduced the purchasing power of the foreign
countries and deteriorated the competitiveness of the Indian Industries. Now it has
seen a slight improvement in the competitiveness of the Indian Industries as the
Rupee has been seen depreciating against the major currencies. The actual real
exchange deviation of the Dollar did not see high fluctuation from the expected real
exchange rate deviation. The actual real exchange rate deviation against Euro and
Pound has been fluctuating continuously and hardly in line with the expected
exchange rate. The competitiveness of the leather industry has been affected due to
the appreciation of the rupee that has deteriorated the competitiveness of the leather
industry and currently has noticed slight improvement from the evaluation carried out
by the Purchasing Power Parity Theory.
The export had been affected when the rupee had appreciated against the other
currencies which reduced the purchasing power of the Euro nations and caused a
reduction in the competitiveness of the leather industry. The imports are affected
when the rupee depreciates against other countries the firms that are been sourcing
raw material. The leather industry raw material is available locally due to high live
stock availability for example Sheep, Cattle and Goats and hence very low imports of
raw materials are required for the production of leather goods. In recent times the
exporters had been worried due to the appreciation of the Rupee which reduced the
exports to the European Nations as they had been delaying in placing the orders and
some companies even kept on hold the dispatch of the consignment. The reduction in
the exports will affect the competitiveness of the leather industry and even the
economy.
In the past the Indian Industries had not been affected due to the currency fluctuation
as Reserve Bank of India managed currency fluctuation by regular intervention and
policies. The Rupee had been stable and industries in India did not find it is
necessary to make use of the available measures to prevent from the risk of currency
fluctuation. The leather firms are not financially strong due to low profit margin, as the
industry is made up of small and cottage firms. The firms were largely affected due to
the devaluation of Rupee against the Euro that reduced sales, as well as the
competitiveness of the industry with other countries. The leather firms can make use
of the exchange traded derivative like currency futures and Currency Options. In
currency futures they have the obligation that they have to execute the futures
contract but the options contract which has been recently introduced has no
obligation to execute the contract. Hence I could say that the option contract will be of
benefit to the leather firms to protect from the currency fluctuation.
In concluding I would like to say that the leather industry is highly dependent on
exports and orders from foreign buyers and the customers prefer to be quoted in their
own currency. The current Rupee appreciation caused a problem for the exporters to
negotiate with huge buyers and reduction of orders for the European Union nations.
This could also cause problems for the people employed without contract in the
leather Industry as these employees will lose their job when firms are affected in thir
exports. The reduction in export also reduced the profit margin as well as working
capital. This will lead the exporters into a vicious cycle of low productivity and affect
the competitiveness the leather industry. Hence suitable measures should be taken to
mitigate the risk of currency fluctuation.
5.1 Recommendations
In the past the Indian Rupee was stable against the dollar due to the policy and
intervention of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The leather product manufacturing small
and cottage firms therefore did not consider contingency measures for the impact of
economic exposure, by making use of hedging technique to mitigate the risk of
currency fluctuation. In the impact of currency fluctuation, special attention has been
given to the economic exposure of exchange rate variations that affects imports and
export of the leather industry. The exchange rate will affect the firm’s net revenues if
receivables are in foreign currency, which will affect the profit margin of the firm and
the value of the organizations. Hedging Options (2010) divulge that exporters will
have to analyze the exchange rate risk and check if the currency loss can be passed
to customers by increase in the prices. The firm involved in exporting must negotiate
the clauses with customers of foreign countries for the price variance due to
exchange rate fluctuation, when confirming a deal.
The steps of how to manage the economic exposure of exchange rate variation are
provided by SivaKumar and Sarkar (2010) as follows: Firstly the leather firm has to
identify the economic exposure, which affects the competitiveness of the firm. The
leather firm will have to forecast and monitor the market trends and the direction of
the exchange rates. According to the forecast the leather firms must measure the
value at risk and then set the measures to handle the foreign exchange exposure.
The leather firm has to decide right strategy with a long term perspective to mitigate
the exposure, which affects the competitiveness and the value of the leather firm.
Therefore, the exporting firms need to have a smart strategy to mitigate the risk of
currency volatility.
Indaheng (2010) says that the importing and exporting firms can make use of
derivative as a hedging strategy. A derivative is a financial instrument whose value
depends on another basic underlying security. The currency hedge is carried out by
buying and selling foreign currency with the amount of revenue receivable and
payable in foreign currency. The exchange traded securities that have been permitted
by Securities and Exchange Board of India, are the currency futures contract in 2008
and in recent past currency options contract is introduced, which has been mentioned
by Khanna R. (2010).
In Madura (2003) conveys that the firms that desire to hedge transaction exposure
can make use of futures contract. The contract is standardized contract with
standardized delivery date and initiated at a small security deposit. The futures
contract is traded on the exchange and is similar to forward that allows the customer
to lock the exchange rate for specific price, for a stated future date. The Leather SME
can make use of futures contract as they are used for hedging smaller amounts and
are secured. The leather exporters can hedge the future foreign currency receivables
in the home currency, by selling the currency futures contract and locking the
exchange rate for the expected receipt of revenue. The importing leather firms can
buy the foreign currency futures contract, in which the firm will be entitled to receive
specific amount at a future stated date, for a specific currency and specific price. In
this way, the firm locks the amount of payment to be made in foreign currency.
The currency option gives the owner the right to buy and sell currencies, for agreed
price on or before the specific date. The option gives the holder the right but has no
obligation to buy or sell foreign currencies at the specified price. The put option gives
the right to sell a specific security and is used if there are receipts in foreign currency.
If the currency spot rate is above the present spot rate, than the firm is not obliged to
use the option and hence sell the currency at the spot price. The call option gives the
right to buy specific asset and is used if there are payment to be made in foreign
currency. If the spot rate remains lower than the option price throughout the life of the
option than the owner has to flexibility, not to exercise the option and buy at the
present price.
The over the counter techniques used for hedging are Currency Forward contract and
Currency Swap. The currency forward contract is an agreement between two parties
for a financial transaction for a pre-determined price and date in future. The forward
price may differ according to contract of the maturity. The forward contract is self
regulating and flexible as agreed by the parties. The forward contract can be of risk
since it is not exchange traded as any of the party might default.
The Currency Swap is where one party pays principle amount in one currency and
the other party pays principle amount in another currency with the exchange of cash
flow for periodic settlement date, for certain period of time. At the initial stage no need
of payment and carried out over the counter. The currency swap is similar to forward
contract, that is difficult to find counter party and subject to default risk from
counterparty.
Hence leather exporting firms can take advantage of the above derivatives to hedge
the foreign exchange risk as per a suitable strategy. The derivatives traded on
exchange does not have counter party risk of default and are highly liquid, whereas
securities traded over the counter implies a counter party risk and difficult to find a
party, which will force the customer to sell at a lower price. The newly introduced
options contract would be better for the leather industry or the firms have to make use
of the above steps to determine the economic exposure that affects the
competitiveness and use suitable hedging techniques to mitigate the risk.
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7. Appendix
7.0 US Dollar Deviation in PPP