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Weak rupee may bring cheer to NRIs, expats Windfall for those sending money from abroad to families in India, expats in India earning in dollars but spending in rupees Press Trust of India / New Delhi May 27, 2012, 14:23 IST

A sharp plunge in rupee value to near Rs 55-56 levels against the dollar may be bad news for the markets and the economy, but the currency's depreciation may bring cheer to some including, NRIs remitting money from abroad and expats drawing salaries in dollars.

Amid a fall in rupee and stock markets, concerns are rife about a slowdown in economic growth momentum. However, a weaker rupee could mean good news for the Non-Residential Indians (NRIs) and others remitting money from abroad to their families back in India, experts said.

The rupee has not only lost sheen against the US dollar but also against other currencies. One dollar gets a little over Rs 55 now, which is nearly 12.67 per cent more than what it did on March 1. Similarly, a British pound brings Rs 86.73, (up 10.62%), euro brings Rs 69.30 (up 5.83%) and Australian dollar Rs 54.02 (up 1.75%), a forex expert said.

India has one of the largest NRI diaspora in the world after China estimated to be around 30 million. According to World Bank data, India received remittance worth USD 64 billion in 2011 - the top recipient among developing nations.

Windfall gains could also be reaped by expats working in India with income in foreign currencies like the US dollar but incurring expenses in rupee, they added.

This is because in the short term, these employees are set to gain from a weaker rupee as they earn more rupees from their dollar-denominated salaries, an HR expert said. The rupee on Thursday hit a record low of Rs 56.38 against the US dollar. While some recovery was seen on Friday but the rupee remained above the 55-level. The rupee has slid by a whopping 13 per cent since March 1, while market barometer Sensex has tanked by nearly 8 per cent in this period. Besides, for those people who are planning a visit to India now, have a lot to cheer about as they will get good bargain for their home country currencies now. This translates to having more spending power in India as compared to other favourite destinations like Singapore and Thailand. Each US dollar now costs 1.28 Singapore Dollar, and 31.63 THB (Thai Bhat). Commodity analysts also say that a weaker rupee could also lead to a rise in gold prices, as investors tend to shift their focus away from riskier assets like stocks to the bullion market in such scenarios. If this scenario plays out, it could result in gains for the existing gold investors.

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Weak rupee may bring cheer to NRIs, expats

SINGAPORE - Expatriates in Singapore rank second in the world for income, with half earning over US$200,000 ($254,973) a year, a recent survey found.

The 2011 Expat Explorer Survey by HSBC also revealed that expat wealth remained widely immune to global economic troubles.

Expats in Singapore ranked top in Asia and third in the world for expat wealth and finances in areas such as earning levels, disposable income, spending, saving, investing patterns and the impact of the current global financial climate.

However, the survey also found that expats in Singapore faced higher cost of living such as accommodation, food and bringing up of children.

The survey sought the opinions of nearly 3,400 expats from over 100 countries across the globe on their experiences working and living overseas.

This year, for its 5th annual survey, HSBC is calling for expats to take part in its latest survey.

This year's survey will be focusing on emerging issues on how expats have fared after the global economic turmoil and social unrest faced in some countries, as well as tips and tricks on how to best live in a foreign country.

yamadak@sph.com.sg

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S'pore expats have second highest incomes globally

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greek stock markets rebounded strongly on Monday from a 22-year low on hopes a pro-bailout party will win crucial national elections next month, which would avoid a catastrophic rift with international creditors and keep the struggling country within the euro currency union.

The main stock index in Athens soared 6.5 percent in mid-afternoon trading, with the battered bank sector chalking up solid gains.

Four polls published Sunday reversed previous trends to indicate that conservative New Democracy could come first in the June 17 vote, slightly ahead of the anti-austerity radical left Syriza party. Although the conservatives would still fall short of a governing majority, the surveys suggested they could form a coalition government with socialist PASOK, which have also pledged to stick to Greece's austerity commitments.

The debt-crippled country is being kept afloat by huge international rescue loans, granted on condition of harsh cutbacks and reforms that slashed living standards. The austerity, however, also caused huge popular resentment toward New Democracy and PASOK, the two parties that accepted the terms. Voters expressed that anger clearly in May 6 elections, giving a boost to anti-bailout parties. But the election proved inconclusive, with none of the parties able to form a coalition government, leaving Greece to hold another ballot next month.

Greece's bailout creditors the other countries in the 17-nation eurozone and the International Monetary Fund insist that if the country reneges on its austerity commitments, the rescue loans will stop.

That would unleash chaos. The government would be unable to pay hospital workers, police and teachers, pensions would dry up and a potential panic run on bank deposits would destroy the tottering financial system. Eventually, the country could be forced to abandon the 17-member eurozone, reverting to a vastly devalued form of its old drachma currency.

Fears of such an outcome have battered Greek financial markets for weeks, pushing the Athens General Index to close at a 22-year low of 485.18 points on Friday. The latest polls, however, helped it claw back some of those losses, rising to 516.61 points.

"This is clearly due to the polls," said Sergios Melahrinos, analyst at Solidus Securities.

He noted that if the two pro-bailout parties manage to win the election and have Greece honor its austerity commitments, banks would gain access to rescue money needed to avoid collapse. Under the country's latest international bailout, domestic banks that took huge losses from a bond swap that more than halved Greece's privately-held debt will receive billions of euros to boost their capitalization. If a new government in Athens unilaterally tears up the bailout deal as Syriza has threatened to do the recapitalization would fall through.

"A potential win by the parties that back their recapitalization would be extremely good for lenders."

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Greek stocks soar on pro-bailout party's poll gain

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(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) The Internet stands at a crossroads. Built from the bottom up, powered by the people, it has become a powerful economic engine and a positive social force.

But its success has generated a worrying backlash. Around the world, repressive regimes are putting in place or proposing measures that restrict free expression and affect fundamental rights. The number of governments that censor Internet content has grown to 40 today from about four in 2002. And this number is still growing, threatening to take away the Internet as you and I have known it.

Some of these steps are in reaction to the various harms that can be and are being propagated through the network. Like almost every major infrastructure, the Internet can be abused and its users harmed. We must, however, take great care that the cure for these ills does not do more harm than good. The benefits of the open and accessible Internet are nearly incalculable and their loss would wreak significant social and economic damage.

Against this background, a new front in the battle for the Internet is opening at the International Telecommunications Union, a United Nations organisation that counts 193 countries as its members. It is conducting a review of the international agreements governing telecommunications and aims to expand its regulatory authority to the Internet at a summit scheduled for December in Dubai.

Such a move holds potentially profound - and I believe potentially hazardous - implications for the future of the Internet and all of its users. At present, the ITU focuses on telecommunication networks and on radio frequency allocations rather than the Internet per se. Some members are aiming to expand the agency's treaty scope to include Internet regulation. Each of the 193 members gets a vote, no matter its record on fundamental rights - and a simple majority suffices to effect change. Negotiations are held largely among governments, with very limited access for civil society or other observers. When I helped to develop the open standards that computers use to communicate with one another across the Net, I hoped for but could not predict how it would blossom and how much human ingenuity it would unleash. What secret sauce powered its success?

The Net prospered precisely because governments - for the most part - allowed the Internet to grow organically, with civil society, academia, private sector and voluntary standards bodies collaborating on development, operation and governance. In contrast, the ITU creates significant barriers to civil society participation. A specialised agency of the United Nations, it grew out of the International Telegraph Union, which was established in 1865. The treaty governing the agency, last amended in 1988, established practices that left the Internet largely unaffected.

While many governments are committed to maintaining flexible regimes for fast-moving Internet technologies, some others have been quite explicit about their desire to put a single UN or other intergovernmental body in control of the Net.

Last June, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stated the goal of Russia and its allies as ''establishing international control over the Internet'' through the ITU. Such proposals raise the prospect of policies that enable government controls but greatly diminish the ''permissionless innovation'' that underlies extraordinary Internet-based economic growth to say nothing of trampling human rights. Some countries have expressed sympathy for these proposals. They are concerned about the outsized role they perceive that the United States plays in the direction and development of Internet policy. Some believe the status quo favours the interests of large, global Internet companies. Others believe the ITU can help speed Internet access in the developing world.

I encourage you to take action now: Insist that the debate about Internet governance be transparent and open to all stakeholders.

Vinton Cerf is Google's chief Internet evangelist. He is widely recognised as one of the ''fathers of the Internet,'' sharing this title with the American computer scientist Bob Kahn

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Keep the Internet an open forum