New Delhi: The rupee hit a new record low against the dollar, plunging well past 81.50 per dollar on Monday as the greenback rose sharply to multi-year highs against most major currencies on fears of a global recession from the rising borrowing rates worldwide.
At 9.20am, the home currency was trading at 81.52 a dollar, down 0.64 percent from its previous close of 80.99.
This was the eight out of nine trading sessions when the currency declined and lost around 2.28 percent in this period.
It was not immediately clear whether the RBI had intervened in the currency markets. Analysts expect that amid a liquidity deficit of more than 21,000 crore in the banking system, the RBI will have less room to step in and curb rates and volatility.
Despite the deficit, forex reserves fell by another $5.22 billion to $545.65 billion. Analysts says the decline was after the RBI used reserves to curb rupee volatility. So far this year, the forex reserves declined $100 billion to defend the rupee. However, it still depreciated over 8.22 percent this year.