



Need deep reset, no quick fix, say experts as rupee hits new lows
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: The Indian rupee’s slide to fresh record lows amid the ongoing West Asia war is prompting calls for deeper structural reforms instead of short-term liquidity measures to stabilize the currency, five market participants told Mint.While the US-Iran conflict has intensified pressure on the rupee, experts said the currency’s weakness predates the war and reflects broader concerns over slowing capital inflows at a time when India’s current account deficit is expected to widen.Since the war began on 28 February, the rupee has declined by 4.6%, according to Bloomberg data. After clocking fresh lows for three consecutive trading sessions, the currency hit a fresh record low of 95.96 per US dollar on Thursday, before trimming losses and ended at 95.64 compared with 95.66 on Wednesday.
The rupee also emerged as one of the world’s weakest-performing currencies last fiscal year (FY26), declining about 11%.The rupee’s fall has been exacerbated by outflows of foreign capital. According to data from NSDL, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pulled out nearly ₹1.8 trillion from Indian equities in FY26, the highest outflow in 34 years.
So far in FY27 (till 14 May), they have sold equities worth ₹89,007 crore, compared with just ₹250 crore in the year-ago period.There were other reasons, too. “One of the reasons why the rupee was weak even before the US-Iran war was because we kept our rates too low,” said Anant Narayan, former whole-time member of India’s market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
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