Rupee jumps 45 paise to top 70 mark to the dollar

The rupee strengthened against the US dollar on Friday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures to boosting the economy.

The rupee was up 45 paise or 0.64 per cent at 70.88 against the greenback.

Sitharaman proposed to slash corporate tax for domestic and new local manufacturing companies. The effective rate will be 25.17 per cent, including surcharges and cess. The measures will be implemented through an ordinance, she said.


The FM said the new provision has been inserted into the Income-Tax Act with effect from fiscal year 2019-20 to promote growth. It will allow any domestic company to pay income-tax at 22 per cent subject to the condition that it will not avail any other incentive or exemptions.

The rate of Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) has been reduced from 18.5 per cent to 15 per cent. The objective is to provide relief to companies that continue to avail exemptions and incentives, the Finance Minister said.

Following the announcement, benchmark indices soared over 1,800 points intraday, and Nifty was up above 460 points intraday.