Rupee tops Asia’s worst performers list with 9.9% slide in FY26

Synopsis

The Indian rupee ended FY26 as Asia's weakest currency against the US dollar. It depreciated by 9.88% due to significant foreign investor withdrawals and strong global dollar demand. The Reserve Bank of India intervened to stabilize the rupee. The Japanese yen also saw a decline. The Malaysian ringgit emerged as the top performer.

Mumbai: The rupee was the worst performer in Asia against the US dollar in FY26, shows an ET analysis of 10 rival currencies, after the local unit lost 9.88% through a year marked by record exits from Indian equities by overseas investors amid a global scramble for dollar-based assets. Opening the financial year at 85.59 per dollar, the rupee ended at 94.83.

Agencies

Yen Second Worst-performing

This is after the local currency touched a record low of 95.22/$ amid consistent dollar demand throughout the year. Foreign portfolio investors pulled out a record ₹1.6 lakh crore, far exceeding withdrawals in FY22, data from NSDL data showed.

Unrelenting demand for dollars from foreign investors forced the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to intervene in the market by selling dollars to prevent a sharp fall in the rupee.

The Japanese yen, which fell 6.27% against the dollar, was the second worst-performing Asian currency in FY26. By contrast, the Malaysian ringgit gained 9.69% - the best performer on the regional leader-board.

Alok Singh, head of treasury, CSB Bank, expects the rupee to remain under pressure in the half of FY27 before the unit recovers some of its losses and trades in the broad 91-94 per dollar band for the fiscal year.

Bankers said the latest RBI measures would support the rupee. "Capping of banks' net open position by RBI will help curb speculative trades and prevent a sharp depreciation in the rupee, but the near-term outlook is weak and a little fuzzy due to the Iran conflict, as the dollar-rupee rate will correlate with what happens there," said Alok Singh.

In a drastic measure to prevent a sharper fall in the rupee, RBI on March 27 asked banks to cap their net open rupee positions in the onshore deliverable market to $100 million at the end of each business day, effective April 10, far lower than the 25% of total capital limit earlier. Despite this, the rupee fell to cross the 95 mark on the last day of trading.

"For now, chances are that the rupee may weaken below 95 per dollar toward 96 or even 97. Persistent dollar outflows and higher oil prices have definitely shifted the rupee band more toward 92-93 per dollar, from the 89-90 expected before this crisis," Singh said.

Through FY26, RBI maintained that it intervened in the spot market to prevent volatility.

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