Rupee strengthened by 4.4% against US dollar in February: Namo Narain Meena

NEW DELHI: The government today said RBI's initiative to arrest the declining value of rupee has yielded results and the value of the Indian currency has appreciated by 4.4 per cent vis-a-vis US dollar during February.

"RBI has taken a number of steps to augment supply of foreign exchange and curb the speculation in the market to stem rupee decline. So the rupee has stabilised in the recent months," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Having depreciated for five months since August, the rupee appreciated against dollar by 2.6 per cent in January and 4.4 per cent in February.

The rupee appreciated in value from a low of Rs 52.34 per dollar, to Rs 51.34 in January and to Rs 49.17 in February.

The main reasons for the rupee depreciation, Meena said, "were the supply-demand imbalance in the domestic foreign exchange market on account of the slowdown foreign institutional investor (FII) inflows, strengthening the UD dollar in the international market."

Besides, he said, the sovereign debt crisis in euro zone countries also added to the strengthening of US dollar.