RBI can sell USD 25 bn more to arrest rupee fall: SBI report
Mumbai, Sep 18 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should intervene in both spot and forward markets to arrest Indian rupee's depreciation, suggested a State Bank of India (SBI) Ecowrap report on Tuesday.
As per the report, during the June 2008 to May 2009 period, when rupee depreciated by 13 per cent, the RBI sold dollars worth $43 billion, though the forex reserves at that time stood at $312 billion.
The report cited that even during 1990s, when the total forex reserve was less than $40 billion, the RBI had intervened in the market by selling 8-9 per cent of total reserve to rein in a fall in rupee.
"So, we believe in the present scenario, RBI could go up to its tolerance limit of 10 per cent (a crude proxy of the average ratio over all periods) by selling at least an additional $25 billion in the forex market," the report said.
The apex bank is known to enter the markets via intermediaries to either sell or buy US dollars to keep the rupee in a stable orbit.
In addition, the report said that oil companies may also be asked to purchase all their USD requirements directly from the RBI through a single bank, an arrangement that was used in 2013.
"Further, oil companies may also be asked to borrow USD for import payments directly from foreign branches of Indian Banks. These funds may be borrowed for longer term instead of the very short-term funds borrowed currently," the report said.
The report comes on a day when latest global trade protectionist measures, along with high crude oil prices, dragged the Indian rupee to a fresh low of 72.98 per US dollar.
At 5 p.m on Tuesday, the rupee closed at 72.98 per greenback from its previous close of 72.51 per dollar. It had opened at 72.60 per US dollar at the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market and remained range bound.
However, the Indian currency's slide commenced from 4.45 p.m onwards as it touched 72.96 breaching its previous intra-day record low of 72.91 made on September 12.
According to analysts, concerns over a rise in inflation rate, growing protectionism in global trade and an outflow of foreign funds from the country's equity market have had an adverse impact on the Indian currency.
"After comments surfaced that Saudi Arabia is comfortable with higher crude oil prices, Brent prices jumped. At the same time, news came that China has warned of retaliation in trade," said Anindya Banerjee, Deputy Vice President for Currency and Interest Rates with Kotak Securities.
"Both these news, triggered a sharp decline in Chinese currency and rupee. Weak rupee caused a sell-off in Nifty."
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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