Rupee gains the most in 2 weeks against dollar on likely intervention by RBI

Rupee

The rupee recovered 72 paise against the dollar in the early trade on February 11 on likely intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), currency experts said.

At 10.50 am, the domestic currency was trading at 86.6362, the highest since January 31, after opening at 87.3500.

The heavy intervention came for the second consecutive day after the rupee dived to a new low, hovering close to the 88-mark against the dollar.

The intervention is in line with the RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra’s comments during the February 8 policy review. The central bank’s stated objective was to maintain orderliness and stability, without compromising market efficiency, he said.

"...Our interventions in the forex market focus on smoothening excessive and disruptive volatility rather than targeting any specific exchange rate level or band. The exchange rate of the Indian rupee is determined by market forces," Malhotra said.

The rupee has been in a downward spiral after the introduction of new tariff plans by US President Donald Trump.

All eyes are now on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US as Trump continues to fire tariff salvos. Modi will be in the US on February 12 and 13.

The visit will be an opportunity to build upon the successes of his collaboration with Trump in his first term and develop an agenda to further elevate and deepen bilateral ties across areas like technology, trade, defence, energy and supply chain resilience, Modi said before leaving on a two-nation visit. Modi is on a two-day visit to France for an AI summit.