Rupee record high in 10 years against dollar

Technorati Tags: Send Money To India,Rupee,Dollar,Exchange Rate

At 39.285 for 1 US dollar, Rupee is at 10 year high. I think dollar will continue to fall against rupee for next year. Why do I think so? For the following reasons:

1. Fed in US has very strongly indicated that it will continue to cut rates in US. This will accelerate the flight of money from US to places where investors can get better returns (i.e. where interest rates are higher).
2. Indian economy is doing very well and most of the business people and government officials are very upbeat about continued strong economic growth. On the other hand US economy is heading towards a recession. This is causing lots of people to move money from US to India. This is getting reflected in Indian stock market. While US market fell heavily in last two weeks, Indian market is defying all global indices and reaching record highs everyday. Note Exchange rate is all about demand and supply. More dollar move in to India, more it will depreciate.
3. Some very large IPOs (ex Reliance Power, OIL, ICICI subsidiaries, Wockhardt Hospital) are scheduled for next year. This will cause further investment from FIIs in India.
4. Real Estate prices are going up in India. Many NRIs want to maintain roots in India or want to move back to India in future. These NRIs are buying real estate in India in record numbers either because they think it is great investment or because of fear that it will be out of their budget very soon.

I am very pessimistic about dollar. In this environment, I think it is wise to move some percentage of assets to India and invest there. I would love to hear what other NRIs are doing?

Remit2India guaranteeing best exchange rates for transferring money to India

Remit2India is having a promotions where they are guaranteeing to match anyone who is offering exchange rates better than them. This seems like a great promotion. Their website also has comparison of their rates and ICICI bank rates. Remit2India is claiming to give few cents more than ICICI. In the past I have found ICICI to offer best rates. If remit2India is offering better than ICICI then folks transferring large amount should definitely consider them.

Here is the link to promotion http://www.timesofmoney.com/remittance/jsp/toml_nreExchangeRate_US.jsp


Looks like with Rupee appreciating against dollar so strongly, lots of people has started demanding better rates from money transfer services and this is showing effect.

SBI offerring for transferring money to India

SBI (State Bank Of India) has come out with a new web site for sending money to India. Here is the link: http://www.onlinesbi.com/glsus/#

I quickly browsed through the website. It is pretty easy to use and rate they are offering are very competitive. And being SBI you can trust your money is in safe hands.

I would love to hear from people who have used this service.