Rupee rises 42 paise to close at 91.51 against US dollar
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee gained 42 paise to close at 91.51 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday, a day after the Union Budget 2026-27 was presented, largely as crude oil prices retreated from their elevated levels.
Forex traders said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seemed to be defending the 92 per dollar level with a lot of resolve.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 91.95 against the US dollar, then gained some ground to touch an intraday high of 91.45 and a low of 91.95 against the greenback.
At the end of the trading session on Monday, the rupee was quoted at 91.51 (provisional) against the greenback, registering a gain of 42 paise from its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee hit a record low of 92.02 before ending 6 paise higher at 91.93 against the US dollar.
For the rupee, the Budget offered reassurance, not relief, and the government's high borrowing plan is likely to weigh on investor sentiments going ahead.
The government is likely to borrow Rs 17.2 lakh crore in the next financial year to fund its fiscal deficit projected at 4.3 per cent of the GDP.
"Overall, it looks like a prudent budget, focusing on continuity. Given the geopolitical uncertainties and challenges, it seems the government it seems has chosen to go a bit slow on fiscal consolidation," IFA Global said in a research note.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.09 per cent higher at 97.07.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 4.46 per cent lower at USD 66.23 per barrel in futures trade, as the US and Iran were talking about avoiding US strikes on Iranian soil.
The oil prices had touched USD 72 per barrel after traders expected a US strike on Iran during the weekend.
"As the Budget volatility subsides, the Indian rupee and domestic equities have emerged as regional outperformers. A combination of cooling commodity prices, enhanced fiscal control, large forex reserves and suspected corporate dollar selling has provided a tailwind for the local currency," Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, said.
In the near term, the USD-INR spot is likely to consolidate within a tight range, finding support at 91.10 and facing resistance near 91.85, Parmar added.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 943.52 points to settle at 81,666.46, while the Nifty surged 262.95 points to 25,088.40.
On Sunday, equity markets reacted negatively to the FY27 Budget as it proposed a higher securities transaction tax on derivatives and changes to buyback taxation, raising concerns over increased costs for investors.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 588.34 crore on Sunday, according to exchange data.
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SC grants bail to three accused in 2024 Pune Porsche crash case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to three accused in the 2024 Pune Porsche accident case that claimed two lives, while observing that parents are to be blamed for such incidents involving juveniles.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan observed that parents are not able to control their children.
"Substance abuse is another thing but giving them (children) car keys and funds to have a gala time is unacceptable," the court observed.
On January 23, the top court sought a response from the Maharashtra government on a plea filed by accused Amar Santish Gaikwad seeking bail in the case.
Gaikwad represented by advocate Sana Raees Khan was alleged to be a middleman, who gave Rs 3 lakh to the assistant of a doctor in a hospital to replace a blood sample of the juvenile accused.
On May 19, 2024, a Porsche allegedly driven by a 17-year-old boy under the influence of alcohol, fatally knocked down two IT professionals in Pune's Kalyani Nagar area.
On January 7, the top court sought a response from the Maharashtra government on pleas filed by two other accused seeking bail in the case.
Aditya Avinash Sood (52) and Ashish Satish Mittal (37) represented by senior advocates Siddharth Dave and Siddharth Agarwal were arrested on August 19 last year, as their blood samples were used for tests in connection with two minors who were in the car along with the 17-year-old main accused at the time of the accident.
The high court on December 16 last year rejected the bail pleas of eight accused, including Gaikwad, Sood and Mittal, in the case.
The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) had granted bail to the minor accused on lenient terms, sparking nationwide outrage. The bail conditions included writing a 300-word essay on road safety.
As bail to the accused juvenile triggered outrage, the Pune police approached the JJB to review its decision. The board then modified the order and sent the juvenile to an observation home. In June, the high court ordered the release of the juvenile.
While the juvenile involved in the case was released from an observation home, 10 accused, including his parents Vishal Agarwal and Shivani Agarwal, doctors Ajay Tawre and Shreehari Halnor, Sassoon Hospital's staffer Atul Ghatkamble, Aditya Avinash Sood, Ashish Mittal and Arun Kumar Singh, and two middlemen, were sent to jail in the blood sample swapping case.
