At the Bloomberg New Economy Forum on October 13, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined how the rupee had lost ground over the preceding eighteen months, adding that the Reserve Bank of India would continue working to curb sharp swings in the currency's value. Sitharaman said the rupee had been trading at a weakened level against the US dollar, with the Reserve Bank of India deploying its regulatory tools to help keep the domestic currency on a steady footing.

The rupee climbed one per cent on Monday, a move Sitharaman attributed to the RBI's latest policy actions. The rupee edged up to 94.96 against the dollar in morning trading on Tuesday, while a source indicated that authorities had no intention of pegging the currency at a fixed rate.

Measures to bring price swings under control are underway, and the Reserve Bank has directed notable resources toward addressing that objective. The RBI's measures are not designed to peg the rupee to a fixed value. The minister expressed a preference for the rupee to reach a level determined by market forces.

Over the weekend, the Reserve Bank put forward a package of interventions aimed at steadying the rupee's exchange rate. Two measures were put in place by the monetary authority: a dedicated facility for oil marketing companies designed to redirect their dollar purchases away from the open market, alongside tightened regulations on foreign-exchange derivatives trading aimed at reducing speculative pressure on the rupee.

The directive also required banks to set aside a 20 per cent reserve against dollar transactions exceeding USD 2 million. Finance Minister Sitharaman expressed confidence that the Reserve Bank of India would take further steps to keep rupee volatility in check, pointing to the country's stable economic foundations and adequate foreign exchange reserves as grounds for that assurance.

The finance minister attributed the currency's swings to forces operating outside national borders, while maintaining that the country's economic underpinnings remained steady and that the government's approach to fiscal management gave investors no particular grounds for concern. Sitharaman noted that the rupee's movements in response to dollar fluctuations represented the area where pressure was being felt, and that her ministry would be directing attention toward it.

On Tuesday, 13 October, the rupee gained 82 paise against the US dollar, reaching 94.96 in early trading, as a set of Reserve Bank of India interventions designed to ease near-term dollar demand and limit outsized positions in the foreign exchange market lent support, news agencies reported. Four steps taken by the Reserve Bank of India that Saturday included opening a dedicated dollar supply channel for three government-owned oil companies, placing tighter restrictions on foreign exchange derivatives, setting a 20 per cent cash reserve requirement against certain currency contracts, and toughening the daily cash reserve standards that banks are required to meet.

On Monday afternoon, the Reserve Bank of India moved to tighten its oversight of rupee non-deliverable derivative contracts, confining overseas participants to hedging purposes only, while simultaneously extending a 20 per cent cash reserve obligation to cover banks' own rupee-denominated currency hedges.