Rupee at 74 against dollar. Piyush Goyal says 'depreciated only 7% in 5 years'

Calling it India’s best period, Goyal said, "We are in 2018, Five years later if a dollar is at Rs 73.5 effectively, the rupee has depreciated less than five rupees, which at 68.86 is about seven per cent. This to my mind is the best period that India has seen when the rupee has only depreciated by seven per cent in a five-year period," he said at the Hindustan Times International Leadership Summit.

File picture - Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal (Twitter account)

New Delhi: Rupee may have taken a fresh plunge on Friday but that hasn’t stopped Railway Miniser Piyush Goyal to say that it is the best period that India has seen when the currency has only depreciated by seven per cent in a five-year period. Citing figures of the year 2013, the minister said the economy has been able to withstand the pressure from the international market. "I think today we have an economy that is able to withstand the current international pressure. We have a situation like 2013, the dollar is getting strengthened because of the quantitative easing in the US. They are sucking out USD 10 billion and USD 300 or USD 350 billion every year. Trade rates have gone crazy. Oil prices are shooting up consistently. Despite that have you realised in 2013 the rupee to a dollar was at 68.86, he said at the Hindustan Times International Leadership Summit. Also Read: India, Russia ink $5 billion S-400 missile air defence deal amid US objections Calling it India’s best period, Goyal said, "We are in 2018, Five years later if a dollar is at Rs 73.5 effectively, the rupee has depreciated less than five rupees, which at 68.86 is about seven per cent. This to my mind is the best period that India has seen when the rupee has only depreciated by seven per cent in a five-year period," he said at the Hindustan Times International Leadership Summit. Meanwhile, RBI governor Urjit Patel earlier in the day reiterated that the domestic currency is still better than its emerging market peers and that the apex bank does not have a target for it. Lashing out at the government, the Opposition Congress party said "the slide in the Indian Rupee continues as the Modi Govt looks on helplessly."