India shouldn't get too worried over Re depreciation: Sanyal

Principal Economic Adviser to the Finance Ministry Sanjeev Sanyal today sought to allay concerns over the falling Rupee against the US Dollar, saying India should not get too swayed by a single bilateral exchange rate.

"If you take any broad based basket, you will see that the Rupee is not especially weak. We cannot get too swayed by a single bilateral exchange rate," Sanyal told PTI.

He was responding to a question over the hue and cry raised over the Rupee recently breaching the historic low of 70-mark against the US Dollar.

The falling Rupee value should be seen as strengthening of the US Dollarrather than weakness of the Rupee because the Rupee hasbeen stable over the last five years against most global currencies, Sanyal said.

 

"The Rupee has been very stable over the last five years against most global currencies, except the US Dollar.

Hence, weshould see this as US dollar strengthening rather than rupeeweakness," he said.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, on the eve of Independence Day celebrations, had hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the rupee breaching the historic low of 70 against the US Dollar.

Gandhi had said this "historic depreciation" of the Rupee has given the 'supreme leader' a vote of "no confidence", while his Congress party had said it was the Prime Minister's Independence Day gift to the nation.

"The Indian Rupee just gave the Supreme Leader, a vote of NO confidence, crashing to a historic low.

Listen to the Supreme Leader's master class on economics in this video, where he explains why the Rupee is tanking," Gandhi had said on Twitter.

Sanyal said the RBI, the competent authority for managing the exchange rate, has more than adequate forex reserves to manage sharp movements.

"The RBI has a well-established mechanism that allows the Rupee to find its own level in the medium-term, but manages volatility in the short-term.

It has more than adequate forexreserves to do and manage sharp movements," he said.

The Rupee had recently crashed below the 70-mark in early trade to touch an all-time low of 70.10 against the US Dollar due to worries over the Turkish economic crisis and a sharp plunge in the Lira.