Rupee crashes 82 paise to settle at 93.71 against U.S. dollar

The rupee crashed 82 paise, or nearly 1%, to settle at an all-time low of 93.71 (provisional) against the U.S. dollar on Friday (March 20, 2026), weighed down by persistent foreign fund outflows and a steep rise in crude oil prices amid mounting geopolitical tensions.

Forex traders said the Indian rupee is under tremendous pressure as surging crude oil prices and a shift toward risk-aversion dented investor sentiments.

Moreover, heightened geopolitical uncertainty risks are driving energy costs higher, which could widen the trade deficit and stoke inflationary pressures, they added.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit opened at 92.92 against the greenback and soon breached the 93-mark for the first time. It kept losing ground through the session and eventually settled at 93.71 (provisional), down 82 paise from its previous close.

On Wednesday (March 18, 2026), the rupee slumped 49 paise to close at its previous record low of 92.89 against the U.S. dollar.

Forex markets were closed on Thursday (March 19, 2026) on account of Gudi Padwa. “The rupee hit fresh all-time lows on Friday (March 20, 2026) amid geopolitical tensions in West Asia and FII outflows. Rising global crude oil prices, too, have pressured the rupee,” Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Commodities Research, Mirae Asset Sharekhan, said.

All key central banks — U.S. Federal Reserve, ECB, Bank of England, and Bank of Japan — left interest rates unchanged in their respective monetary policy meetings, citing inflation concerns and said they stand ready to steer monetary policy accordingly, he said.

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“We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias as escalating geopolitical tensions and rising crude oil prices may continue to pressure the rupee,” he said, adding that the USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of ₹93.20-93.80.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.35% higher at 99.58.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 1.84% higher at $110.7 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex rebounded from Thursday’s crash (March 19, 2026), and was up 325.72 points, or 0.44%, to 74,532.96, while Nifty rose 112.35, or 0.49%, to 23,114.50 points.

Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth ₹7,558.19 crore on a net basis on Thursday (March 19, 2026), according to exchange data.