Nearly Rs 92 to a Dollar, Rupee Tanks to All-Time Low
New Delhi: The Indian rupee fell to a record low, and registered its steepest weekly decline in six months. Sustained foreign outflows and hedging by importers, revealed low confidence in the currency and it fell to a historic low, of nearly Rs 92 to a dollar.
The market skated to a low of Rs 91.9650 to a dollar, finally ending the day at Rs 91.96 against the greenback.
The fall in foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment coming into the economy has reversed the trend that had been visible since the 1990s. Of late, the RBI has been selling dollars consistently to shore up this politically significant statistic but it seems the slide was hard to push back.
The rupee has become Asia's worst performing currency in an environment when other comparable Asian currencies have actually recovered and gained somewhat.
That it is not just ‘external pressure’ like US inflicting the highest rate of tariffs anywhere in the world on India was clear with analysts hinting at other reasons. "This is largely a repeat of what we saw through most of 2025. The rupee stays under pressure regardless of broader cues," Kunal Kurani, vice-president at Mecklai Financial Services told Reuters news agency.
Indian equities have been under pressure, as foreigners are selling them consistently for some time now. This has added to RBI’s woes, with its drive to shore up the rupee not being able to bear much fruit. The Nifty 50 index fell 2.5% this week, while foreign outflows from Indian equities in the first month of the new year was about $3.5 billion, as per news agencies.
The rupee has fallen 5% in 2025 and this year has also got off to a weak start, with the currency losing value by a steep 2.3%.
The atmosphere of general uncertainty has pervaded other movement in the currency market. Bloomberg has reported that India's holdings of US Treasuries have fallen to a five-year low as India has moved “to support its currency and diversify its reserves.” The share of gold reserves has also increased. This in in line with other countries too now wanting to diversify away from the dollar, though a significant reason for the tilt in India may be because of reserves being used to help the rupee against the dollar.
Incidentally, the newly appointed US ambassador, Sergio Gor met the RBI governor, Sanjay Malhotra last week, to “discuss technology cooperation.”
When the present government came to power in 2014, the value of the rupee, then about Rs 64 to a dollar was a major talking point, especially with Narendra Modi, then CM of Gujarat, who in 2012, mocked the UPA, saying that the rupee was falling due to “corruption” in the UPA.
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