Rupee falls 2 paise to near all-time low of 84.85 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee fell 2 paise to near all-time low of 84.85 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday on the back of foreign fund outflows and rising crude oil prices.
An elevated dollar index and muted domestic equity markets weighed on the Indian currency even as investors were awaiting cues from domestic inflation data to be released later in the day, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 84.85 against the greenback, registering a fall of 2 paise over its previous close.
On Wednesday, the rupee settled with a gain of 2 paise at 84.83 against the US dollar.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading marginally lower by 0.12 per cent at 106.26.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.12 per cent to USD 73.61 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex was trading with a marginal gain of 53.59 points, or 0.07 per cent at 81,579.73 points. The Nifty inched up 2.10 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 24,643.90 points. Both the indices ended Wednesday's session with marginal gains.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Wednesday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,012.24 crore, according to exchange data.
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Modi govt's policies failed to revive economy: Cong
New Delhi (PTI): Asserting that the Centre's policies have "failed" to revive the economy, the Congress on Thursday said the government's strategy of cutting corporate taxes, giving "generous corporate handouts" and raising the tax burden on the salaried middle class has only helped enrich large monopolies without any discernible increase in investment or hiring.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said what is needed for stimulating demand is tax cuts for the salaried middle classes and income support to the poor.
His remarks came over a media report which claimed that the sharp slump in economic growth rate to 5.4 per cent in July-September this year has sparked concerns among policy makers that low single-digit income growth in the corporate sector despite four times growth in profits over the last four years, is one of the reasons behind the slowing of demand.
In a post on X, Ramesh said, "Private sector profit is at a 15-year-high and has grown four times over the last four years. But salaries are stagnant, having grown annually at rates between 0.8% and 5.4% across sectors."
The CEA has sagely suggested that India Inc needs to look within and that "there has to be better balance between the share of income going to capital as profits and that going to workers as wages", Ramesh said.
If only the Government had not cut corporate taxes steeply in 2019, some of that balancing could have been achieved through policy itself, he said.
"The writing on the wall is clear: the Government's strategy of cutting corporate taxes, giving generous corporate handouts through PLIs, and raising the tax burden on the salaried middle class has only helped enrich large monopolies without any discernible increase in investment or hiring," Ramesh said.
These policies have failed to revive the economy, he claimed.
"What we need to stimulate demand is tax cuts for the salaried middle classes and income support to the poor," Ramesh said.
The Congress has been accusing the government of mishandling the economy and criticising it over rising prices, unemployment and "stagnant incomes".
