Currencies

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee declined by about 1% in May, reversing course after gaining in the previous two months, influenced by factors such as continued uncertainty over U.S. trade policies, gains in its Asian peers and a conflict between India and Pakistan. The rupee closed at 85.5775 on Friday, capping a day of choppy trading with a mild decline. The currency had rallied to a six-month high earlier in May but shed its gains through the month. Initially, a military conflict between India and Pakistan hurt the currency but it...

In fact, UPI is not the only form of digital payment. There are other ways as well. As the RBI annual report points out: “During 2024-25, total digital payments recorded growth of 34.8 per cent and 17.9 per cent in volume and value terms, respectively.”5) Now, more digital payments happening should automatically imply people using lesser cash as a result and hence, lead to lesser cash in the system. There is no denying that that has happened, but only to some extent.As mentioned earlier, the value of UPI transactions in...

India’s forex reserves jumped by $6.992 billion to $692.721 billion during the week ended May 23, the RBI said on Friday, May 30.In the previous reporting week ended May 16, the overall reserves had dropped by $4.888 billion to $685.729 billion. The forex reserves had touched an all-time high of $704.885 billion in end-September 2024. For the week ended May 23, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $4.516 million to $586.167 billion, the data released on Friday showed. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency...

India's forex reserves jumped by $6.992 billion to $692.721 billion during the week ended May 23, the RBI said on Friday.In the previous reporting week ended May 16, the overall reserves had dropped by $4.888 billion to $685.729 billion. The forex reserves had touched an all-time high of $704.885 billion in end-September 2024. For the week ended May 23, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $4.516 million to $586.167 billion, the data released on Friday showed. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include...

However, export volumes will be flat because of higher tariffs expected to be imposed by the US and subdued demand in key importer nations as sluggish economic growth affects disposable incomes | Photo Credit: BALACHANDAR L Indian shrimp exporters will see a marginal 2-3 per cent uptick in revenues this fiscal on improved realisations stemming from rising prices and currency gains. However, export volumes will be flat because of higher tariffs expected to be imposed by the US and subdued demand in key importer nations as sluggish economic growth affects...

₹500 notes remain dominant, accounting for 40.9% of the total volume and 86% by value The printing cost of currency notes has surged by around 59 per cent over the last five years, while the supply has increased by around 36 per cent, the Reserve Bank of India’s annual report revealed.According to the report, expenditure on printing notes was over ₹4,000 crore in FY21, which surged to over ₹6,300 crore, showing a growth of 58.8 per cent. During this period, the supply of notes went up to 3,030 crore pieces...

Indian Rupee posts modest gains in Friday’s early European session. The downbeat US economic data and uncertainty of Trump's policies weigh on the US Dollar. Traders brace for India’s Q1 GDP and US April PCE inflation reports, which are due later on Friday.The Indian Rupee (INR) gains ground on Friday, snapping the three-day losing streak. The downbeat US economic data and concerns that a US court ruling would change the outlook for US tariffs undermine the US Dollar (USD). A decline in crude oil prices provides some support to the Indian currency,...

Asian currencies traded in tight ranges on Friday, while the U.S. dollar saw a modest rebound after a federal appeals court reinstated former President Donald Trump’s tariffs, reversing an earlier trade court decision. Investors now await the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index— the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge—due later in the day, for further economic cues. Market sentiment remained cautious as U.S. Treasury officials confirmed a stall in trade talks with China, undermining optimism from earlier tariff de-escalation. The Japanese yen outperformed regional peers, rising 0.3% against the dollar,...

"The bigger issue is that we have had a lot of policy uncertainty which got going in the first quarter but really took off with Liberation Day and all the volatility around the tariffs in the first weeks of April which is after the Q1 GDP report period," says Arnab Das, InvescoWith the US GDP down 0.2%, are we seeing early signs of policy induced taxation risk according to you?Arnab Das: Look, there is an element of that. What happened to drag down GDP growth in the first quarter was...

Listen to article ISLAMABAD: The federal government and the central bank reiterated on Thursday that the use of crypto currencies was illegal and anyone dealing in these currencies was liable to be investigated by the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The statements were made by Federal Finance Secretary Imdad Ullah Bosal and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Executive Director Sohail Jawad during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance. The development also came a day after the newly appointed Special Assistant to Prime Minister...