Rupee fell 3.3% against USD in Oct-Jan period: MoS Finance tells Parliament

NEW DELHI: The Indian rupee has depreciated 3.3 percent against the US dollar between October 2024 and January 2025, but the decline has been lower than some of its Asian currencies, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed Parliament on Tuesday.

Since the commencement of the last quarter of calendar year 2024, rupee along with other Asian currencies depreciated against the US dollar amid uncertainties surrounding results of US elections, Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

US dollar Index rose 7 percent during October 1, 2024, to January 30, 2025, with all major Asian currencies depreciating against the US dollar, he added.

INR has depreciated 3.3 percent during this period. South Korean Won and Indonesian Rupiah depreciated by 8.1 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively in this period, he said.

“Further, all G-10 currencies also depreciated during this period by more than 6 percent with Euro and British Pound depreciating by 6.7 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively,” he said.

Rupee was also under pressure owing to narrowing interest rate differential between US and India, he said, adding, the US 10-year yield rose 74 bps during the aforementioned period, while the Indian generic 10-year yield remained relatively stable.

Foreign portfolio investments (FPI) outflows of around USD 20 billion from Indian markets during October 1, 2024, to January 30, 2025, contributed to the depreciation of INR against the US dollar, he said.

The trade deficit of USD 31.8 billion for November 2024 also exerted pressure on INR, he added.

Replying to another question, Chaudhary said the percentage of inoperative PMJDY accounts is 21.17 percent as on Janaury 22, 2025.

As per RBI guidelines, a savings as well as a current account should be treated as inoperative/ dormant, if there are no customer induced transactions in the account for over a period of two years.

Banks continuously make concerted efforts to monitor the percentage of operative accounts by organising camps to create awareness about banking habits including the benefits of keeping the account active, he said, adding, this is being regularly monitored by the government.

In reply to another question, Chaudhary said, the tax to GDP ratio has been on increasing trend since Covid-19.

The fluctuations in tax to GDP ratio is recorded either due to exogenous shock like Covid -19, or any structured reforms implemented by the government like rationalisation of tax rates, he said.

Regarding, effective debt management, the Union government in Budget speech of FY 2024-25 in July has outlined a medium-term fiscal policy stance, he said.

It seeks to keep the Central government fiscal deficit to GDP ratio such that the debt to GDP ratio is on a declining path, he said.