



Rupee at record low: Don’t ignore international investing for hedging currency risk
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. With the rupee slipping to a record low of ₹90 against the dollar, the need to hedge your investment portfolio against currency depreciation is back in focus. This matters even more today, as Indians spend increasingly in foreign currency — on overseas vacations, education and other big-ticket needs.
While the rupee has depreciated 5% against the dollar, it has historically depreciated 2.5-3% annually. Global diversification benefits from rupee depreciation, as a weakening rupee enhances the value of returns earned abroad. With mutual funds still constrained by overseas investing limits and international exchange-traded funds (ETFs) trading at premiums on domestic exchanges, the usual paths to global diversification remain limited.
Here’s a look at some options. Among domestic mutual funds, there are some feeder funds that remain open for subscription. These are funds that invest in international funds.
Hence, these are called fund of funds. “However, the underlying funds are actively managed and do not offer the same comfort as investing in a broad index, where there is no risk of a fund manager underperforming the benchmark," said Vishal Dhawan, founder of Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors. “Earlier, investors could rely on funds tracking broad-based ETFs and indices, but those options are currently limited due to overseas investing restrictions." Remember, funds that are still open have limited headroom to invest overseas, so keep an eye out for fund announcements that indicate any breach of this headroom.
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