Indian rupee, after giving up all the morning gains, depreciated to a record low on Monday after Finance Minister P. Chidambaram unveiled much anticipated proposals to curb the current account deficit (CAD) that lacked crucial details. Chidambaram vowed to contain the current account deficit at $70 billion and proposed to meet the current account deficit target with a slew of widely anticipated measures, such as easing rules on obtaining loans abroad and raising deposits from Indians abroad. However, these measures lacked specifics at a time when worries about the economy were rampant. However, positive local equities to some extent limited the further slide of Indian currency. Meanwhile, RBI’s latest attempt to curb the supply of cash in a bid to stem an unprecedented slide in the currency, once again looked futile with the currency faltering near record low on the similar day. On the global front, dollar rose on Monday on expectations of strong US data that could signal an early scaling back of the Federal Reserve's monetary stimulus.
Finally the rupee ended at 61.29, weaker by 41 paise from its previous close of 60.88 on Thursday. The currency touched a high of 61.31 and low of 60.50 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at Rs 60.80 and for Euro it stood at 81.03 on August 12, 2013. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 63.07, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 94.2074. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
