Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that despite significant global challenges, the rupee was "stable and strong". The rupee surpassed the one-month high mark earlier in the day, as the domestic currency neared 78.60 against the US dollar.
“There is no collapse of the rupee. INR fluctuations are more towards the US dollar. And even there the performance of the INR is much better than its peers. We have withstood US Fed decisions much better than any other peer currencies. And if you compare INR with other currencies, its appreciating in value," the Union Finance Minister said.
Talking about the reserves coming own, Sitharaman said that as of July 22, India's reserves are at $571.56 billion, which is not a small amount. "Yes, earlier it was in the range of 600 and now it's down to the higher range of 500, we are still comfortably placed.. We need to contextualise the rupee performance particularly against the US and the decisions taken by the US Fed," she said, justifying that there is no collapse.
"It is actually finding its natural course. As I said the RBI is continuously monitoring it, monitoring and intervening only if there is volatility, RBI’s interventions are not to fix any value of the INR because its free to find its own course," she added.
Sitharaman said that India, like many countries, is not pitching its currency at a certain level. "So the ways in which we want to strengthen the currency are very many and the RBI and Finance Ministry are fairly engaged in it," she said.
While addressing the Rajya Sabha during question hours, Sitharaman, on the government's expenditures, said, "Much more has been spent on primary education than collections from the education cess through the states." She added that road infrastructure cess collections have come down due to excise cuts on petrol and diesel.
The FM exerted that many telecom companies were under the radar of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). She said the DRI had issued a notice of Rs 4,389 crore against the Chinese mobile company OPPO on Customs duty evasion. She said that only Rs 450 crore has been deposited voluntarily by the company so far.
Three show cause notices have been issued against Chinese mobile manufacturer Xiaomi for Rs 653 crore, of which only Rs 46 lakh has been deposited so far.
Sitharaman added that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) was looking at 18 companies established by China-based technology communications company Vivo. The company has deposited only Rs 62 lakh with the ED so far.
The finance minister said that of the total Rs 1.25 lakh crore worth of global sales from India, Vivo transferred Rs 0.62 lakh crore to its parent company BBK Electronics Corporation.
On Indians helping shell companies, she said, "We are taking action against Indian citizens who are helping shell companies. There is a larger exercise in the ministry right now on tax evasion and evasion-related activities; I don’t want to get into details right now."
First Published: Aug 2, 2022 4:29 PM IST
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