Snapping six day of gaining streak, Indian rupee ended weaker on Tuesday as traders turned cautious with Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s statement that India cannot achieve 9-10% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth without revolution in the farm sector. He said there is a need to boost investment in the agriculture sector as well as to introduce new technology and market reforms. However, the downside remain capped with traders taking solace with reports that the net direct tax collection figure has crossed the Rs 10 lakh crore mark as on March 16, helped by the fourth and final installment of tax payment. The entire advance tax data from across the country has not come yet. The net direct tax collection during April-January of this fiscal stood at Rs 7.89 lakh crore as against Rs 12 lakh crore targeted for the entire fiscal of 2018-19.
Finally, the rupee ended at 68.96, 43 paise weaker from its previous close of 68.53 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 69.05 and 68.34 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 68.58 and for Euro stood at 77.81 on March 19, 2019. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 61.66, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 91.00.
