RBI monitoring rupee, may intervene if needed: FM

17 Nov 2011 Evaluate

On the back of rupee hitting to a new 32-month low against the US dollar, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is monitoring the situation and will intervene in the forex market if required. The rupee dropped as worries about Europe's debt crisis and a worsening domestic economy raised demand for the US currency. He said, ‘as RBI has already mentioned, it is watching the situation. As and when it is necessary, they will intervene.’

On the same time, the RBI Deputy Governor, Subir Gokarn said that the bank would intervene in the forex market in case of extreme volatility only and the objective would be to smooth that volatility and not fix a rate. However, experts are of the view that central bank’s intervention in the forex market at this juncture could raise concerns over liquidity as bank’s dollar purchase could potentially suck out rupee liquidity from the market.

The rupee breached the Rs 51 per US dollar-level after a 32-month gap on good dollar demand from banks and importers in view of the strong dollar overseas amid depreciation of the euro due to the intensifying debt crisis in the euro-zone nations. The rupee is already Asia's worst performing major currency this year, having fallen over by close to 12% against the dollar so far in 2011 and the fourth most depreciated currency in the world.

Gokarn had further said that the RBI would decide on for open market operations to manage liquidity in the system only if there is a stress and not to influence government bond yields. A weaker rupee is a matter of concern for India as it depends on imports for over 70% of its oil and gas requirements and the depreciation in the local currency have made imports expensive.

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