The rupee was trading weak by 22 paise at 65.93 per dollar at 3.22 p.m. local time due to dollar demand from importers and slowing economic growth in the first current quarter of the current fiscal.
The rupee shed 39 paise to 66.10 per dollar in the opening trade against the previous close of 65.71. The domestic unit had ended higher in the previous session after RBI intervention.
The rupee saw sharp movements last week. It had hit a historic low of 68.80 against the US dollar on August 28. It had dropped 3.7 per cent during last week alone.
Rajiv Takru, Secretary - Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, said: “Rupee depreciation is not reflective of any weakness in the economy…the rupee is heavily under-valued at the moment for reasons everybody knows and it is being addressed.”
In a reflection of the ongoing economic downturn, India's GDP (gross domestic product) growth decelerated to 4.4 per cent — the slowest pace of expansion since the 2008 meltdown — in the first quarter (April-June) quarter of the current fiscal.
According to dealers, the weak GDP numbers is likely to maintain pressure on the domestic unit.
