RBI Continues Efforts To Prevent Excessive Volatility In Value Of Rupee: FM

New Delhi: Flagging concern over rupee depreciation in India, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will continue its efforts to prevent the excessive volatility in the rupee. “The rupee has reached a low against the US dollar mainly due to global uncertainties, even though India's macroeconomic fundamentals, including forex reserves, are strong and the regulator RBI is ensuring that the domestic currency stays stable,” she said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum 2026 here.

Asked about rationalisation in taxes in the securities market, the minister also said that the debate around STT and long-term capital gains tax rationalisation is healthy, and she will ‘keenly’ hear these debates. “We are very close to the Budget, and the preparation for the Budget has started. It may not be the best time for me to say what I will or what I will not consider,” she said.

Sitharaman further said that the long-term capital gains tax is something on which a lot of people have been commenting, and the issue also came up during her conversation with investors in India and abroad. “It's healthy to have this debate, and I will be keenly hearing them,” she said.

Elaborating on the rupee, the minister also said that the central bank, through its measures, is trying to prevent volatility and not “fix” the rupee level. So, these efforts from the RBI will continue not to, as I said, fix the rupee. We would appreciate it if the rupee finds its own (level). The RBI over the weekend announced a slew of measures to stem rupee fall,” the minister said.

Recently, the central bank announced the creation of a special window for oil marketing companies, which will take US dollar demand away from the spot market and tightened rules governing forex derivatives trades to curb speculative bets against the rupee. “The latest measures by the RBI supported the rupee as its value appreciated one per cent on Monday. On Tuesday, it appreciated to Rs 94.96 in the early trade,” she said.

The minister also said India's fundamentals are fine, with sound foreign exchange reserves. “Within the country, we are making sure that we keep the macroeconomic fundamentals sound. Fiscal discipline is not going to be a matter, which should worry investors. But as regards the rupee, and as regards the way it is reacting to the ups and downs with the dollar, yes, that's where the challenge is, and we will be attending to it,” she added.

To support the rupee amid the West Asia crisis, the government and RBI took a slew of steps to attract dollars into the country. “To reduce compliance burden for foreign investors in government securities, the government expanded the list of specified securities under the fully accessible route (FAR) to include new issuances in G-Secs. Besides, income tax exemption was given to income from interest and capital gains made by FPIs from investments in G-Secs,” she said.