New Delhi: The rupee hit an all-time low and depreciated 7 paise taking it to 80.05 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday tracking the strength of the American currency and firm crude oil prices. On Monday, the rupee for the first time declined to the low level of 80 against the US dollar in intra-day spot trading before ending the session 16 paise lower at 79.98 amid a surge in crude oil prices and unrelenting foreign fund outflows.
The rupee opened on a weaker note on Tuesday morning weighed down by outflows and high oil prices, Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said, adding that lack of intervention from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could also weigh on sentiments.
The opposition has reacted to the depreciation of the rupee and slammed the union government.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter and targeted the government over the falling value of rupee, inflation, and rising GST rate hike. Gandhi said, "Rupee reaches 80 Cooking gas has surged over Rs 1000, 1.3 crore people are unemployed in June and a burden of GST has been added on food grains. No one can stop us from raising public issues, the government will have to answer. Running away from discussions and questions in Parliament is the most 'unparliamentary', Prime Minister."
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also took a sharp swipe at the government hours after the rupee hit a new record low of more than 80 per US dollar for the first time. This comes as several countries across the world battle inflation, partly fueled by the war in Ukraine that is set to enter its sixth month. The conflict has hit global fuel and food supply chains.
"Rupee has crossed ₹80. Modi Ji is the one who made it an election issue in 2014. He was going to strengthen the rupee when he came because it shows a weak government, therefore a weak rupee... but then what is the strong government giving us? Even a weaker rupee,” the Congress MP was quoted as saying by news agency ANI, targeting the prime minister.
“When Modi Ji came to power, the rupee was 50 something, now it's 80. Where is the question of responsibility? Everything you import is costing more because rupee has gone down, fuel prices up, price rise is high and imposition of GST is an extra burden on the common man,” he added.
Youth Congress leader Srinivas BV also targetted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said, "Thank God! Modi ji is working only for 18-18 hours.. If you start waking up for 6 more hours, then..."