Indian Rupee hits life-time low of 232 against Omani Rial

Muscat: The INR hit a life time low on Friday against US dollar.  This is the highest single day dip during the last three months. Exchange houses in Oman are offering over INR232 against one Omani Rial while online platforms like GlobalPay offering  232.25. This is the first time the INR crossed 232 against the greenback.

Speaking to Times of Oman, R. Madhusoodanan, a financial expert based in Muscat said that the INR has depreciated about 4.5 percent during 2025. On Friday INR opened at 88.66 against USD and intraday touched 89.70 and closed at 89.48 The rupee market witnessed the highest level of volatility on Friday.

The sudden spike, at around 2 pm IST  on Friday in the USDINR pair caused panicky in the forex market.  Of late, the INR was showing weakness due to the reason that there was delay in signing the trade agreement with the US, though communications were on between the two during the last 10 days. The situation worsened due to the lack of  intervention by  the Reserve Bank of India. 

The global cues also included the higher yields of the Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs). The Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised the bench mark rates in a move to curb inflation and attract foreign investment. It may be noted that for decades, together there was zero interest scenario and when  hiked, investors shift their money back from emerging markets like India as there is no advantage of “carry trade” Carry trade is an investment strategy where one borrow in a currency with lower interest rate and invest in a currency with higher interest rate, thereby taking arbitrage. So hiking the interest rate by BOJ has dampened the profit taking opportunities,  said Madhusoodanan.

Reports say that the Current Account Deficit (CAD)of India  is likely to widen by 1.7 per cent of the GDP.  This is mainly because of the affected export earnings and surge in import of gold and  silver besides crude.  This is not a good new for INR.

Outlook
The uncertainty surrounding the trade negotiations and US tariffs on Indian exports, the decision on further rate cut by the US Fed, strengthening of Dollar Index (DXY) are the global cues. The higher outflows on account of the lesser opportunities for the “ carry trade”, intervention of RBI in the forex market are the domestic cues. RBI has a comfortable level of forex reserve at $692.57 billion and hence the intervention of RBI cannot be ruled out in the coming days. However, it is unlikely that the INR may bounce back to the 88 levels in the in the short run  Madhusoodanan added.