Crashing rupee price will kill small business: Mamata Banerjee

The rupee on Thursday slumped 43 paise against the dollar to trade at a life-time low of 70.32 on strong demand for the US currency.

Mamata Bannerjee/ PTI

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed concern on the crashing rupee price and said the devalued rupee will lead to increase in oil import bills and small businesses will be killed further post demonetization. She also said farmers' distress will be compounded as the rupee fell further on Thursday to a new record low beyond Rs 70.20 against the dollar but recovered somewhat later. "Rupee crashes to its lowest ever. We are very concerned. Oil imports bill will now jump” Mamata said. "Prices for vegetables will go up. After demonetisation disaster and now rupee slide, informal sector and small businesses will be further killed. Farmer distress will be compounded," she added. The rupee on Thursday slumped 43 paise against the dollar to trade at a life-time low of 70.32 on strong demand for the US currency. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the local currency opened at a record low of 70.25 a dollar, down from its previous close of 69.89, and weakened further to trade at a fresh low of 70.32, down by 43 paise. Forex dealers said besides strong demand for the American currency from importers, capital outflows mainly weighed on the domestic currency.