Mumbai (PTI): The rupee appreciated 119 paise to 90.30 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, after US tariffs on India were cut from 50 per cent to 18 per cent.

Forex traders said the 18 per cent tariff changes the story, improving India’s relative position and reopening the door for FII participation.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.30 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 119 paise over its previous close of 91.49.

"The good news overnight was the US-India trade deal which was announced after a delay of almost 9 months by President Donald Trump and endorsed by PM Narendra Modi in which the trade tariffs were reduced to 18 per cent, a tad lower than what it is for Bangladesh and Pakistan our neighbours giving our exporters a relative advantage," said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.

Bhansali further noted that FIIs may finally buy Indian equities after being sellers for such a long time.

"We need to wait and see the RBI stance today and in the coming days as it needs to buy the short dollar position," he added.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.20 per cent lower at 97.43.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.41 per cent at USD 66.03 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex was trading 2138.08 points or 2.62 per cent higher at 83,804.54, while the Nifty was up 607 points or 2.42 per cent at 25,695.40.

Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,832.46 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Ramgarh (Jharkhand) (PTI): Jharkhand police on Thursday said it has unearthed a network of interstate cyber frauds and arrested four miscreants for fraudulent transactions through a bank account in Ramgarh district after complaints of 274 suspected transactions in 24 states.

The states where complaints for fraudulent transactions were registered included Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

The action followed inputs received through 'Samanvaya portal', a centralised, web-based platform launched by the Union Home Ministry to curb cybercrime.

"We arrested four cyber miscreants after a current account with Kuju (Ramgarh) branch of the State Bank of India was found to have registered suspected financial transactions in 24 states with the help of the Pratibimba portal of the Home Ministry through the Samanvaya portal," Ramgarh Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Lunayat said.

During the probe, police found that the account was opened under the MSME Udyam Registration scheme in the name of Shree Ganesh Enterprises, he said.

The account had been linked to as many as 274 complaints from different states related to cyber fraud and illegal fund transfers.

The registered proprietors of the enterprise were identified as Rahul Gupta (37), Ravi Kumar Verma (34), and Ajay Sharma (33), all residents of Ramgarh district, a statement from the Ramgarh police said.

During interrogation, Rahul Gupta and Ravi Kumar Verma revealed that they had opened multiple current accounts at the behest of Ritesh Agrawal alias Munna (40) and Sonu Kumar Jha (34).

They admitted receiving Rs 1.2 lakh in exchange for facilitating the opening of these accounts.

"The accused further confessed to sharing OTPs, activating mobile banking services, and handing over control of the accounts to the main operators through WhatsApp and Telegram groups. These accounts were then allegedly used to route fraudulent transactions.

Police said mobile data analysis of the accused led to the recovery of crucial digital evidence, including details of SIM cards, bank accounts, passbooks, ATM cards, QR code scanners, Aadhaar cards, and PAN cards shared through messaging platforms.

A total of four accused have been arrested so far and sent to judicial custody.

A case has been registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Further investigation is underway, the police said.