The Indian Rupee experienced its third consecutive day of decline, provisionally settling five paise lower at 88.75 against the U.S. dollar on Monday, November 3, 2025. This puts the currency perilously close to its historic low, primarily pressured by a robust American dollar and continuous outflows of foreign investment.
Despite a positive close in the domestic equity markets, which offered some support at lower levels, the rupee couldn’t escape the broader trends in the forex market.
During Monday’s interbank foreign exchange trading, the rupee commenced at 88.73, briefly touching an intraday low of 88.80 before closing at 88.75. This represents a five-paise depreciation from its previous close.
Just last Friday, October 31, 2025, the rupee had already slipped one paisa to 88.70. This followed a sharp 47-paise fall on Thursday, prompted by the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish remarks, even though the Fed had implemented a 25-basis-point interest rate cut.
The domestic currency’s all-time weakest closing level remains 88.81 against the dollar, recorded on October 14.
According to Anuj Choudhary, a Research Analyst at Mirae Asset ShareKhan, the rupee’s ongoing weakness is largely attributable to the strengthening U.S. dollar and elevated crude oil prices. He noted that despite these pressures, the positive performance of domestic equities helped temper the depreciation.
Choudhary anticipates a continued slight negative bias for the rupee, citing the persistent strength of the U.S. dollar and sustained demand from importers looking to hedge their open positions. He also suggested that potential intervention from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could provide some much-needed support to the currency.
He projects the USD-INR spot price to trade within a range of 88.50 to 89.10.
Globally, the dollar index, which measures the dollar’s performance against a basket of six major currencies, saw a 0.13 percent increase, reaching 99.75. Meanwhile, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, edged down 0.02 percent to $64.76 per barrel in futures trading.
On the domestic stock market front, the Sensex managed a modest gain of 39.78 points, or 0.05 percent, closing at 83,978.49. The Nifty also climbed 41.25 points, or 0.16 percent, to finish at 25,763.35.
However, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers, offloading equities worth ₹6,769.34 crore on Friday, October 31, 2025, as per exchange data.
In related economic news, a survey released on Monday revealed that India’s manufacturing sector showed robust growth in October. This was driven by Goods and Services Tax (GST) relief, improved productivity, and technological investments, even though international sales saw a slower increase. The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), after seasonal adjustments, rose from 57.7 in September to 59.2 in October, signalling a faster recovery in the sector’s health.
Separately, India’s foreign exchange reserves decreased by $6.925 billion, reaching $695.355 billion for the week ending October 24, as reported by the RBI on Friday, October 31, 2025. This contrasts with the previous week, which saw reserves increase by $4.496 billion to $702.28 billion.