The Indian rupee tumbled by 54 paise to nearly six-year low of 48.47 against the greenback in morning trading today on fears of more capital outflows due to turmoil in equity markets.
In active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic currency started weak at 48.22/24 a dollar from its previous close of 47.93/94 a dollar.
It later touched a low of 48.47 before being quoted at 48.42/43 a dollar in late morning deals.
Dealers said oil refiners made fresh dollar buying as the Indian unit continued its slide amid unabated capital outflows and absence of dollar selling.
Foreign Institutional Investors continued to pull out funds despite removal of restrictions on Participatory Notes.
Indian benchmark Sensex plunged by 680 points or nearly 6 per cent in the initial fifteen minutes of trading. Asian indices too were down by about four per cent in early trade.
Further, the government yesterday allowed companies operating in the refining, exploration and mining sectors to bring into India up to $500 million of external commercial borrowings (ECBs), a sharp increase from the earlier limit of $50 million.