Rising rupee could help Ranbaxy negate loss in Q2

The appreciating Indian rupee against the US dollar could help drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories to make forex gains of up to $300 million in the current quarter, thus helping it to come out of red.

According to market analysts, the company, which had incurred a forex loss of Rs 734.8 crore while reporting a net loss of Rs 761 crore ($153 million) in the first quarter due to currency hedging, will benefit from the current surge of rupee against the US currency.

"Appreciation of rupee against the dollar is very likely to remain for the next four-five months and it would definitely help the company in minimising its mark-to-market losses," HDFC Securities Vice-President Institutional sales Ranjit Kapadia said.

Another analyst, who did not wished to be named said: "Even at the conservative levels of Rs 46-47, Ranbaxy will be able to achieve forex gains in the range of $250-300 million. This will allow company to come back in the positive territory in the forthcoming quarter.

According to SMC Global Vice-President Rajesh Jain, rupee is likely to gain in near future also as dollar is losing against all major currencies. "This would certainly help Ranbaxy in making forex gains," he added.

 Ranbaxy officials declined to comment on the issue.   In its guidance for 2009, Ranbaxy said it expected to achieve sales of around Rs 7,000 crore ($1.4 billion) and a net loss of Rs 800 crore ($150 million) based on assumption of an exchange rate of Rs 50.50 per dollar and no further impact on account of USFDA.