The turmoil in global commodity and financial markets has seen the rupee fall to a new all-time low against the dollar. But how does the current slide compare with previous instances of exchange rate weakness? Between May 22, 2013 – which marks the start of the taper tantrums – and end-August 2013, the rupee depreciated by 18.8 percent against the dollar. The next episode is the onset of COVID-19 in India: between February 27, 2020, and April 22, 2022, the rupee fell by 6.8 percent. In comparison, the last 10 days have seen the rupee depreciate by just 3.0 percent against the greenback. Of course, the length of period over which the depreciation occurs shouldn’t be ignored.
