Rupee depreciates to another all time low of ₹90.7 a dollar

The Indian rupee depreciated to a new low of ₹90.7 a dollar backed by continuous foreign investment outlfow and elongated period of uncertainty around tariffs.

The rupee opened at ₹90.5 a dollar and depreciated to ₹90.79 , then recovered to the day’s close. The current geo-political uncertainty from the U.S. tariff coupled with sustained foreign investor outflow.

The market has been constantly waiting for clarity regarding the U.S.-India trade deal. Recently, the new Deputy USTR Jamieson Greere termed that India had given “its best ever deal but was a hard but to crack.” Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal however maintained that this was not a negotiation line and that trade deals shouldn’t be made with deadlines in mind to avoid hasty decisions.

“Rupee remains vulnerable in the absence of a trade deal with the US the talks of which, though concluded, have not been conclusive with no announcements during the weekend,” said Anil Bhansali, Head of Treasuries and ED of Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.

FIIs sold Indian equities worth ₹17,821 crore between December 1 and December 15 along. While foreign investors pulling out money has depreciated the currency, their returns in dollars have also reduced because of the currency, leading to a continuous outflow.

The trade deficit improved in November 2025 but that has not stopped the rupee from depreciating, “This lack of resilience is primarily attributed to a significant demand-supply imbalance, driven by high dollar demand from importers and persistent capital outflows, which remain the biggest concerns for the currency,” according to Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal on Monday (December 15, 2025) said India and the U.S. are “very close” on the framework deal.

“We are very close on the framework deal, which we feel can be done in a short period of time. But I would not like to put a time period on that,” he told reporters here.

The two countries are conducting parallel negotiations — one on a framework trade deal to address high tariffs and another on a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement (BTA).

The Indian industry and exporters are eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the negotiations and the announcement of the deal, as high import duties are hurting their shipments to America.

India and the U.S. concluded two days of talks on Thursday (December 11, 2025), during which both sides exchanged views on trade-related issues, including the ongoing negotiations for a mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation, amid signs that the two sides are inching closer to finalising a much-awaited trade deal.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.08 per cent lower at 98.32.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.21% higher at $61.25 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index, Sensex, declined 54.30 points to settle at 85,213.36, and the Nifty fell 19.65 points to 26,027.30.

Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 1,114.22 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, India’s forex reserves jumped by $1.033 billion to $687.26 billion during the week ended December 5, the RBI said on Friday (December 12, 2025). In the previous reporting week, the reserves had dropped by $1.877 billion to $686.227 billion.

(With inputs from PTI)