The Indian rupee fell by almost 82 paise or almost 1 per cent to hit an all time low of 93.71 to the U.S. dollar on Friday, March 20, 2026. The accelerated depreciation was motivated by the continued outflows of foreign funds and the increase in crude oil prices in the rising geopolitical tensions in the international markets. The local currency opened at 92.92 and immediately jumped the 93 mark, but it kept on depreciating all through the day and finally closed at the historical low.
This decline follows by a day, the fact that the rupee had already declined 49 paise to 92.89 the day before, making this its lowest point in history on March 18. The appreciation of the U.S. currency as indicated by the 0.35 percent increase in the dollar index to 99.58, was another burden on the rupee. In the meantime, Brent crude, the world standard, rose 1.84 percent to $110.7 a barrel, and it is swelling import bills and putting pressure on local currency.
Equities in domestic markets were resilient even in the face of the currency slide. The Sensex regained 325.72 or 0.44 to 74,532.96 and the Nifty went up by 112.35 or 0.49 to 23114.50. Nevertheless, foreign institutional investors continued to be net sellers, selling off shares amounting to 7,558.19 crore on Thursday, indicating that the market is still under pressure externally.
Analysts believe that the rupee will be volatile in the near future because the price of crude oil is still high and geopolitical tensions are still present. The foreign capital flows and the trends in the dollar are of great interest to investors and market participants are taking into consideration the risks of state disruptions in global energy supply, and increased geopolitical uncertainty.