Rupee slide: Uday Kotak links breach of 90-mark to foreign selling; is domestic buying enough to stem the fall?
His comments came as the currency extended its eight-month decline against the US dollar.“₹@90.
The proximate reason: foreign selling of Indian stocks both FPI & PE under FDI.
Indian investors buying.
Time will tell who is smarter.
For now foreigners seem smarter.
1-year nifty $ return is 0.
But this a long game.
Time for Indian business to shake out of comfort zone,” Kotak said on Wednesday.The rupee’s move comes against a backdrop of broad dollar outflows for trade, investment and aggressive hedging, with the currency now down nearly 5% this year, according to an ET report.Despite stronger Q2FY26 earnings and 8.2% GDP growth in the September quarter, the rupee has slipped to become Asia’s worst-performing major currency in 2025.
The currency’s drop from 85 to 90 took less than a year – less than half the time it took to fall from 80 to 85, a Reuters report said.Foreign selling has intensified the pressure.
Net equity outflows by overseas investors stand at nearly $17 billion so far this year, placing India among the worst-hit global markets.
The weakness in portfolio flows has coincided with a slowdown in FDI, with the RBI’s November bulletin showing net FDI turning negative for a second month, driven by outward flows and repatriations.Gross investment inflows reached $6.6 billion in September, but heavy exits from India’s buoyant IPO market by private equity and venture capital investors have led to sustained net outflows.
The merchandise trade deficit hit a record high in October, influenced by higher US tariffs and a surge in gold imports.Market participants said the RBI has intervened intermittently to restrain volatility, but the scale of dollar demand — from importers hedging against further weakness and from foreign outflows — has kept depreciation pressures elevated.
The central bank’s support is reflected in a dip in foreign exchange reserves and a rise in short US dollar positions in the forwards market, which climbed to a five-month high of $63.4 billion.
