THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 24 June 2007 — The strengthening Indian rupee has made the lives of low-income non-resident Indians (NRIs) miserable and an increase in interest rates is expected to help them little, according to an NRI investment advisor.
KV Shamsudheen, director of Dubai-based Barjeel Securities and vice-chairman of Indian Business and Professional Council, Sharjah, said Indian expatriate workers now remit 40 percent less than they used to three years ago.
“First a sharp increase in the cost of living, then diminishing salaries and now a strengthening rupee. The cost of living has increased at least 25 percent over the last three years and the inflation touched 9.3 percent. But the salary or housing allowance is not increasing proportionately and there are cases of salary reductions in many cases,” he said in a statement released here.
“In 2002, an US dollar used to fetch Rs48.72 and an UAE-based NRI could remit Rs.1,000 back home in exchange of Dh75. Today, the same amount costs you Dh90 and the cost of living has gone up both in the UAE and in India,” he said.
Shamsudheen, who is also chairman of the Pravasi Bandhu Trust, which works among the community, said majority of the expatriates were under the threat of debt trap and they are left with no financial resources to look after their families once they return.