Govt needs all the wisdom available in the country: Chidambaram on tackling a falling rupee

Veteran Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said the government seemed "helpless" against the falling rupee and offered a suggestion for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tackle the "relentless decline".

Chidambaram said a consistent depreciation of the rupee value will have consequences for inflation, current account deficit and interest rates and the government now need all the "wisdom and experience available" in the country.

"At this moment, the Government needs all the wisdom and experience available in the country. I have suggested a group of eminent professionals who have the interest of the country at heart," Chidambaram tweeted late on Thursday evening.


Chidambaram advised the prime minister to immediately call a closed-door meeting of C Rangarajan, Y V Reddy, Rakesh Mohan, Raghuram Rajan, and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, along with Union finance minister, governor of RBI, to consider the next steps that the government may take.

The Indian rupee has been weakening over the past few weeks to hit fresh new all-time lows as the US dollar strengthened against major global currencies.

On Wednesday, the rupee breached the 83 mark for the first time in its history.

So far this year, the rupee has depreciated around 11-12 per cent.

The rising trade deficit, depleting forex reserves, strong US dollar index, and the latest monetary policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve are some of the major reasons that triggered the currency's depreciation.