New Delhi:
Sanjay Malhotra, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, said on Friday that the institution does not target any price levels when it comes to “defending” the rupee’s value against the US dollar. The central bank chief was part of an interactive session on Day 2 of the NDTV World Summit 2026 in New Delhi.
“We do not target any price or level for the rupee, but, at the same time, it has been our endeavour that we ensure orderly market conditions in the forex markets. And so, we have not hesitated, as you have seen in the past, to take measures as may be necessary to curb what we may feel is speculative behaviour or if there is excessive volatility,” Malhotra said.
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In recent weeks, the rupee came close to its weakest level ever, inching towards Rs 97 per US dollar. It has since recovered, rising for eight straight days to its strongest level in four months, before slipping slightly on Thursday to Rs 94.83. A dollar cost Rs 66.83 in October 2016, meaning Indians now pay roughly Rs 28, or about 42 per cent, more for every dollar than they did a decade ago. The Opposition led by the Congress has cited the slide as a sign of a weakening economy, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently said rupee depreciation over the past year has been “significant” and “most of it was due to global challenges”, such as the US-Iran war in West Asia. Arguing that India’s economic fundamentals remain sound, she also said the RBI is “not trying to fix the rupee” but “trying to stop the volatility”.
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The RBI chief also cited the recent quarterly GDP growth rate of 7.8 per cent to say the macroeconomic indicators remain strong.
“Inflation is elevated, but still it’s not out of the tolerance band,” he further said. “I would like to mention over here that we have had an average inflation of 4.7 per cent in a 10-year period as against an average inflation of 7.4 per cent in the four-year period just prior to that,” he explained.
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“As a result of the credible policies and operation of monetary policy, we have had relatively lower inflation. The higher inflation now is because of supply-side reasons, primarily arising out of food and fuel (prices), and that’s why we have increased our projections for this year on average to 5.1 per cent.”
