Following local equity markets’ weakness, Indian rupee depreciated against greenback on Tuesday. Increasing dollar demand from oil importers and some bank is putting pressure on the local unit. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut its key lending rate at the monetary policy review by 25 basis points, which also failed to boost currency markets sentiments. The central bank has kept cash reserve ratio, the portion of deposits banks need to park with RBI, unchanged at 4%.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 54.32, weaker by 15 paise from its previous close of 54.17 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 54.34 and 53.91 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at Rs 54.29 and for Euro it stood at Rs 70.01 on March 18, 2013. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 57.50, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 81.9394. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
| Date | 1US$ | 1GBP |
| March 18, 2013 | 54.29 | 81.9394 |
| March 15, 2013 | 54.16 | 81.7444 |
(RBI-reference rate)
