Finance Notes: Declining Rupee Hurts Indian Sports Goods Exporters

The sharp devaluation of the Indian rupee against the U.S. dollar "has given no reason to smile for the sports goods exporters." One would understand that devaluation "would have brought windfall to exporters with higher profit margins, but the labour intensive industry is in fact weighed down by the spike in input cost, most of which is imported." All India Sports Goods Manufacturers Federation President Punit Mohan Sharma said, "Our industry has taken hit of almost 20 percent due to the devaluation of Indian currency over the last few quarters" (Indian BUSINESS STANDARD, 9/3). ... Fast Retailing Co. said that "sales at its mainstay Uniqlo casual clothing chain in August grew 28.9 percent domestically from a year earlier on a same-store basis, extending the rising streak to a fourth month." The number of Uniqlo customers jumped 33.4%, "up for a seventh straight month" (JIJI, 9/4).