Speaking at the economic editors' conference, the minister said other currencies in the world must also grow. He mooted the idea of Saarc countries introducing a common currency like the euro.

With the introduction of the euro now a near-term reality it is expected that the might of the dollar will get scaled down, he said. Continuing his diatribe against the US currency, the minister said, that India should look at the possibility of exiting out of the hegemony of the dollar.

In response to this statement the minister was asked how would the government in that case go about the issue of foreign debt repayment and what would be the repurcurssion on repatriation of dividendsand profits for foreign investors. Presented with the difficulties of switching out of the `dollar regime' the minister ducked the question.

The minister said that over the last few months his ministry has been exploring the possibility of promoting trade in local currencies with countries in South-East Asia. As the South-East Asian countries have seen their dollar reserves evaporate over the last six months, India is trying to promote its exports with these countries in local currencies, he said. The crisis in South-East Asia presents a good opportunity to dilute the over hyped importance of the dollar, he said taking another potshot at the dollar.

In response to a question on whether the ministry was in favour of devaluation of the rupee to boost exports, Hegde said that he was not in favour of competitive devaluation as ``it is double-edged weapon.'' Devaluation can help boost exports only temporarily, it cannot be long-term strategy, he said.

The ministry is actively combating opposition to exportsfrom India by taking up the issue with the European Union and US. There are a lot of myths about Indian exports, for example it is unfair to block agro-exports on the count of hygiene, he said. He cited the recent case of the EU blocking fish exports under the complaint that it is washed in unhygienic water. Also, the oft-quoted reason for blocking exports of other items under the complaint of manufacturers using child labour is not always justified, he said.

With the external environment getting increasingly difficult, it is not easy to push exports, the minister said. A leading investment bank has predicted a growth of a mere 1.5 per cent in world output this year, he added.`` Though the July export performance has somewhat improved it is far below our expectations, further we have to make up for the first quarter's negative performance which is a minus of 7.9 per cent in dollar terms,'' he said. In the first four months of the current fiscal, export performance had a negative growth of 3.77 per cent indollar terms but in rupee terms there was a positive growth of 10.8 per cent, he said.