Indian rupee slumps to record low of 78.59 per USD

After the Philippine peso and the Thai baht, the rupee was the third-worst performing Asian currency in recent months.

The rupee is expected to slide further before stabilising at 79-80 against the US dollar in the near term, a news agency said quoting experts.

India's crude oil imports bill had more than doubled in May to $19.19 billion. The country is 85 per cent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs and 50 per cent for gas requirements.

Also, the continuing foreign portfolio investments outflows has put the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a situation where it cannot go all out to strengthen the rupee as it needs to hold on to forex reserves to meet the import requirements.

An article published in the RBI's latest bulletin has cautioned that in case of an adverse global scenario, potential portfolio outflows can average up to 3.2 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) or $100 billion (₹7.8 lakh crore) in a year.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)