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Domestic Trends

 India’s  ALL GLOBAL                between February 2021 and   Forex Reserves  RBI interventions in the
                                                                                           banking system, through the
                                    October 2022, the extent of
          CURRENCIES HAVE
                                                                and Liquidity
                                                                                           forex market, have caused a
                                    rupee’s depreciation at 13
          DEPRECIATED
                                                                                           significant tightening of
                                    percent has been lower as
          AGAINST THE US
 Exchange Rate:  Dollar             compared to the developed   Thirdly, if RBI continues to   liquidity in the system. Net
                                                                                           durable liquidity has come
                                    market currencies like
          DOLLAR
                                                                undertake foreign exchange
                                                                                           down from a peak of Rs 11.9
                                    Japanese Yen (39.4), South
                                                                                           lakh crores on 8th October
                                                                interventions in order to
                                    Korean Won (28.5), Euro (23),
                                                                                           2021 to Rs 2.6 lakh crores
                                                                control the fall in the rupee, it
                                    Great Britain Pound (22.9)
                                                                is likely to bring down the
                                                                                           by 21st October 2022. And
                                    and Australian Dollar (21.9),
 An Analysis  Strengthening         as well as emerging market   India's forex reserve cover.   for the first time in over 2
                                                                                           years, the banking system
                                                                Already, India’s total forex
                                    currencies like the Turkish
                                                                                           liquidity went into deficit
                                                                reserves have come down
                                    Lira (161.7), Sri Lankan Rupee
                                                                                           of Rs. 0.22 lakh crores
                                                                from US$637.5 billion on 1st
                                    (88), Pakistani Rupee (38.9),
                                                                October 2021 to US$531.1 by
                                                                                           (Rs. 21,873 crores) on 20th
        Secondly, the depreciation in
                                    Thai Baht (26.3), South
        currencies has been across
                                                                to a fall in India’s forex import
                                                                                           to Rs. 0.60 lakh crores
        the board as the US dollar   African Rand (22.6), Philippine   28 October 2022. This has led   September 2022 and again
                                    Peso (21.7) and Malaysian
                                                                cover from 9.3 months to
                                                                                           (Rs. 60,091 crores) on
        has strengthened. In fact,   Ringgit (15.9) among others.
                                                                7.3 months.                30th October 2022.
                                                                  NET DURABLE              If RBI continues undertaking
                                                                  LIQUIDITY HAS            forex intervention to
                                                                                           manage the rupee, it could
 W falling unemployment  Recent vs   USD Index (DXY)              COME DOWN IN THE         potentially push interest
 ith rising inflation and
                                                                  FINANCIAL SYSTEM
 rate in the US, the Federal   Previous   115.0                                            rates much faster than it
                                                                                           may be comfortable with.
 Reserve started indicating                                                                This raises the question on
 rate hikes in the beginning of   110.0                         More importantly, excess   whether RBI’s forex
 2021. This was followed by   Crisis Periods  105.0             liquidity is no longer the case.   interventions limit Monetary
 the war in Ukraine and in                                      Apart from other factors, the   Policy independence.
 March of 2022, the Fed   Firstly, the recent   the Global Financial Crisis of   2013 (when rupee had   100.0  withdrawal of rupees from the
 started its rate hike process.   depreciation of 13 per cent   2008 (when rupee had   weakened by over 15 per   95.0
 This put downward pressure   between February 2021 and   weakened by over 20 per   cent in the period of five   Net Durable Liquidity (Rs lakh crore)*
 on the currencies of most   October 2022 has been   cent per cent between   months from the start of the   90.0  14.0
 economies including India.   relatively lower compared to   December 2007 & June 2009)   crisis in May 2013).  85.0  11.9
 Between February 2021 and   the past crisis periods such as   and the taper tantrum of   12.0
 October 2022, the rupee   Feb-21  Apr-21  Jun-21  Aug-21  Oct-21  Dec-21  Feb-22  Apr-22  Jun-22  Aug-22  Oct-22  10.0
 depreciated by 13 per cent                                            8.0
 against the US dollar.
 USD-INR exchange rate  Note: The U.S. dollar index (DXY) is a measure of the value of the U.S. dollar relative to a basket of   6.0
            foreign currencies which includ the euro (EUR), Japanese yen (JPY), Canadian dollar (CAD), British
 The rupee depreciation and   pound (GBP), Swedish krona (SEK), and Swiss franc (CHF).  4.0
 especially its crossing of the                                        2.0                                2.6
 80 Rs/USD mark has created   80.00
 a lot of arguments both                                                   01-Jan-21  12-Mar-21  07-May-21  02-Jul-21  10-Sep-21  05-Nov-21  14-Jan-22  11-Mar-22  06-May-22  01-Jul-22  09-Sep-22  07-Oct-22
 against the government and   70.00  Percent Change in USD Exchange Rate b/w Feb'21 and Oct'22
 the RBI on not being able to                                               Net Liquidity Injected (Rs lakh crores)**
 keep the exchange rate in   150%                                      1.0                                  0.2
 check. In this article, we take   60.00                               0.0
 a look at India’s exchange                                           -1.0
 rate, current account and   50.00  100%                              -2.0
 trade competitiveness from                                           -3.0
                                                                      -4.0
 alternate perspectives.   40.00  Recent*  50%                        -5.0
 Taper Tantrum                                                        -6.0
 Global financial crisis                                               -7.0
 THE CURRENT   30.00  0%                                              -8.0
 RUPEE WEAKENING   Apr-2004  Oct-2004  Apr-2005  Oct-2005  Apr-2006  Oct-2006  Apr-2007  Oct-2007  Apr-2008  Oct-2008  Apr-2009  Oct-2009  Apr-2010  Oct-2010  Apr-2011  Oct-2011  Apr-2012  Oct-2012  Apr-2013  Oct-2013  Apr-2014  Oct-2014  Apr-2015  Oct-2015  Apr-2016  Oct-2016  Apr-2017  Oct-2017  Apr-2018  Oct-2018  Apr-2019  Oct-2019  Apr-2020  Oct-2020  Apr-2021  Oct-2021  Apr-2022  Oct-22  Turkey  Sri Lanka  Japan  Pakistan  Thailand  Euro  Great…  Australia  Philippi
 HAS BEEN LOWER            South Korea  South Africa                      01-Jan-21  01-Mar-21  01-May-21  01-Jul-21  01-Sep-21  01-Nov-21  01-Jan-22  01-Mar-22  01-May-22  01-Jul-22  01-Sep-22
 THAN THAT SEEN IN   Source: RBI and CII Research
 PREVIOUS CRISIS  Note: *Crisis is ongoing                          Source: RBI
                                                                    *[surplus(+)/deficit(-)]
            Source: ofx
                                                                    **(outstanding including the day's operations)
 12  ANALYSIS, RESEARCH, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP & ADVOCACY                                ANALYSIS, RESEARCH, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP & ADVOCACY  13
                                                                                           QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
 QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
 DECEMBER 2022                                                                                       DECEMBER 2022
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