'Rupee area some way off'

A fixed bilateral exchange rate for South Asian currencies, backed by free movement of capital in the South Asian region will lead to an increase in regional trade and faster economic integration, according to experts.

While it was still too early to talk of a common currency for the area, expansion of trade in the region, followed by enhanced capital flows would lay the groundwork for moving towards a common currency, Arjun Sengupta, chairman, South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS), said. He was speaking at a workshop on Monetary Cooperation in South Asia.