Decorative picture
By Shakir Husain
NEW DELH: India’s central bank is using its vast foreign exchange reserves accumulated over the years to prop up the rupee.
The Indian currency has hit record lows against the US dollar in recent days, prompting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to supply extra dollars.
RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday the rupee’s movements have been relatively smooth and orderly due to the central bank’s actions, including measures to encourage inflows.
“I would like to reiterate that we have no particular level of the rupee in mind, but we would like to ensure its orderly evolution and we have zero tolerance for volatile and bumpy movements,” Das told a banking conference in Mumbai.
It has dropped more than six per cent this year.
Das said higher interest rates in the US along with increased risk aversion among investors have fuelled safe haven demand and strengthening of the US dollar, leading to a depreciation of emergency market currencies as well as those of some advanced economies.
He described the global economic situation as “grim”, citing factors such as the Russia-Ukraine war and COVID-19 pandemic.
— BERNAMA
