Union Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley on Wednesday claimed that the reasons behind the continuous fall of the rupee against the United States dollar were global.
“There are no domestic reasons, the reasons are global,” he said. “In the last few months, the dollar has strengthened against every currency.” The rupee fell for the fifth straight trading day on Wednesday, declining 17 paise against the United States dollar to close at an all-time low of 71.75.
“The rupee has either consistently strengthened or remained in a range and not weakened,” Jaitley said, according to NDTV. He claimed that the rupee has done better “compared to four or five years ago”, especially in comparison to most other currencies in the world.
The finance minister also defended the Reserve Bank of India. “The RBI is certainly doing whatever is necessary [to check the fall of the rupee],” he said, according to ANI. “I don’t think there is any need for the world’s fastest-growing economy to panic and have knee-jerk reactions.”
The central bank likely “intervened mildly” in the foreign exchange markets on Wednesday, selling dollars at Rs 71.80 per dollar to stem the decline in the Indian currency, two unidentified traders told Reuters.
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