Rupee fell by record 34% under PM Modi’s governance: Supriya Shrinate

New Delhi: The Congress lashed out at the Modi government over the free fall of rupee against the dollar. The party flagged its grave concern over the rupee dangerously almost touching 87 mark, against the US dollar.

“Looks like the prime minister Narendra Modi has resolved to make the rupee hit the century against the dollar,” said party spokesperson and chairperson of the Social Media and Digital Platforms, Supriya Shrinate during a press conference at the AICC headquarters here on Friday.

Shrinate said that during the tenure of PM Modi, the total contribution to the fall in the value of the rupee has been by over a record 34 per cent.

Impact on essential commodities

She asked the government whether it realised how much impact the falling rupee will have on the common people as imports will be expensive which will lead to inflation and price rise of essential commodities.

Allegedly quoting PM Modi before becoming the PM, who said ‘the prime minister’s dignity was falling along with the value of the rupee’ she wondered ‘how low the PM’s dignity had fallen today.’

‘Despite RBI’s help, rupee continues to fall’

She said that despite the RBI pumping in 80 billion dollars since September 2024 to arrest the fall, nothing had happened to redeem the value of the rupee, which is in a free fall. She said the foreign exchange reserves in the country right now were lowest in the last ten months at 625 billion dollars against the high of 704 billion dollars in September 2024.

Pointing out that when PM Modi took over the post in 2014, the rupee was valued at 58 against the dollar, she said, it had fallen by over 50 per cent during the ten years of the Modi regime. She said PM Modi has the dubious distinction of being the highest ‘contributing prime minister’ towards the depreciation in the value of the rupee.

Supriya Shrinate explains the trajectory of rupee value over the years

Speaking about the depreciation of the rupee since Independence, she said Nehru contributed to the overall depreciation by 2 per cent and by 5 per cent each during the first and second terms of Indira Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi and VP Singh each contributed to 6 per cent overall depreciation.

She said, that during the tenure of PV Narasimha Rao, who inherited a shattered economy, the contribution to rupee depreciation was 17 per cent. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure the overall value of rupee eroded by 11 per cent, she added. Dr Manmohan Singh’s tenure contributed to a 17 per cent fall in the historic value of the rupee, she said.

Referring to Dr Singh’s tenure, she said, the Indian economy, like the economies of other developing countries suffered major shocks due to the ‘tapering tantrums’ of the US Federal Reserve, which led the value of the rupee to fall to Rs 69 against the dollar.

She said, that within a few months, under the leadership of Dr Singh, the rupee’s value was restored to 58 against the dollar, and there was 35 billion dollars worth of foreign investment.

Warning that the falling value of the rupee will have a direct impact on the people as it will lead to inflation, she asked whether the government realised the seriousness of the situation and whether it had any strategy to check it.

The Congress spokesperson apprehended that the Reserve Bank of India might increase the interest rates, which will have a consequential effect on the EMIs thus adding more financial burden to the common people.