The continuous fall in rupee has hit hardest to middle income society as the consistence depreciation of Indian currency has raised the price of all essential imported goods, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) says on the basis of its survey, which this commercial body has conducted in metropolitan and big cities.
According to ASSOCHAM, the slump in Indian currency to its lowest level has forced to middle and lower income group society to cut in occasional eating out, buying branded products or new cars, studying abroad etc. as their monthly expenditure has risen by 20 percent.
On June 20, the Indian rupee slumped to its all time lowest level of 59.93 as against US Dollar. This slip came when US Federal Reserve signaled an end to its monetary stimulus that would help in further strengthening of the greenback.
"Over 92 percent of the respondents said that their monthly bills have jumped by 15-20 percent in the last one month - the middle class and the lower class are the worst hit," said the survey.
According to Assocham, going to fancy restaurants has been hit the hardest with around 78 percent of middle class Indians avoiding eating out.
In addition, 65 percent have stopped buying foreign branded goods, while 49 percent are spending less on home appliances and 32 percent have put plans to buy a new car on hold.
However, people are in no mood to pay heed to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's request not to buy gold for the sake of the health of the Indian economy.
"Despite the effort by the government to control gold imports, the Indian middle income group is bound by societal traditions and continues to buy gold even at higher prices which have increased the prices of gold due to rupee weakening," said D.S. Rawat, secretary general of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).
The survey further said that Indian students aspiring to study abroad will also be affected as expenditure on food, living expenses and stay has risen sharply.
Assocham said the survey was conducted in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai etc.
--With IANS Inputs--
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