Rupee falls below 67 on report commerce ministry calls for devaluation; govt denies

The Indian rupee fell below 67 to the dollar on Thursday after a television channel reported that the commerce ministry will propose a devaluation in the unit to the government to promote dwindling exports. [caption id=“attachment_2862358” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The finance ministry denied that the government was discussing a possible devaluation of the rupee, whose floating exchange rate is managed by the Reserve Bank of India. Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman also later said she had not told a reporter the government was discussing a devaluation but stopped short of an outright denial. “I had no conversation on devaluation of any currency with any news correspondent. Any quotes/mentions referring to me on this topic baseless,” Sitharaman said in a tweet in response to reports that her department had called for a devaluation. Economic affairs secretary Saktikanta Das also told news agency NewsRise that there was no truth in the reports of a rupee devaluation. He also said the rupee’s value was determined by the market and there was no plan to change the policy on the currency’s valuation. The finance ministry, which has a far more central role in economic policy, denied that any discussion on a devaluation had taken place. The rupee fell to 67.0750 from 66.83 before CNBC-TV18 flashed the news and then recovered to 66.9300 on other media reports that there was no decision to propose for a weaker unit. The Indian rupee had closed at 66.8875/8975 to the dollar on Wednesday. With Reuters