The Essential Ambedkar by Bhalchandra Mungekar

Author:Bhalchandra Mungekar [Mungekar, Bhalchandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mobilism
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Published: 2016-11-30T18:30:00+00:00

Section 7.7: The Need for Stability of Prices and Exchange Rate

The only scientific explanation sufficient to account for the fall of the rupee would be to say that the rupee had lost its general purchasing power. It is an established proposition that a currency or unit of account will be valued in terms of another currency or unit of account for what it is worth, i.e. for the goods which it will buy. To take a concrete example, Englishmen and others value Indian rupees inasmuch and insofar as those rupees will buy Indian goods. On the other hand, Indians value English pounds (and other units of account, for that matter) inasmuch and insofar as those pounds will buy English goods. If rupees in India rise in purchasing power (i.e. if the Indian price level falls) while pounds fall in purchasing power or remain stationary or rise less rapidly (i.e. if the English price level rises relative to the Indian price level), fewer rupees would be worth as much as a pound, i.e. the exchange value of the rupee in terms of the pound will rise. On the other hand, if rupees in India fall in purchasing power (i.e. if the Indian price level rises) while pounds rise in purchasing power or remain stationary or fall less rapidly (i.e. if the English price level falls relative to the Indian price level), it will take more rupees to be worth as much as a pound, i.e. the exchange value of the rupee in terms of the pound will fall.

On the basis of this theory the real explanation for a fall in the Indian exchange should be sought for in the movement of the Indian price level. Lest there be any doubt regarding the validity of the proposition, let us take each of the occasions of the fall and find out whether or not the fall was coincidental with the fall in the purchasing power of the rupee. (BAWS, Vol. 6, pp. 517–18)

[That this is a correct] interpretation of the government’s calculations is borne out by the following extract from the letter which is addressed to the Bengal Chamber of Commerce in explanation of the currency fiasco. After speaking of the necessity for granting international credits to revive commerce, the letter goes on to say:

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