Rupee lost ground to the dollar in 15 of 22 years since 2003

The yearly record

The database holds daily USD/INR rates from 1 December 2003. Taking each year-end rate gives this record. A positive figure means the dollar became more expensive in rupees, that is, the rupee weakened.

The rupee weakened in 15 of the 22 years and strengthened in seven: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2017 and 2023. The biggest annual falls were 2008 (+22.5%), 2011 (+18.3%), 2013 (+12.8%) and 2022 (+11.3%). The largest gain was 2007 (-10.9%).

The long-run drift

From 45.53 at the end of 2003 to 89.77 at the end of 2025, the dollar roughly doubled against the rupee: about 3.1% a year compounded. The drift is not even. The seven strong years cluster in two periods, 2004–2010 (five of the seven) and then isolated years in 2017 and 2023. Since 2011 the rupee has strengthened in only two years out of fifteen.

For goals priced in dollars, such as education abroad, that drift is a cost that a rupee-only plan can miss. The study abroad planning example and the earlier post on the rupee since 2013 work through the arithmetic.

2026 so far

At ₹94.59 the rupee is 5.4% weaker than at the start of the year, which would already be the fourth-largest annual move since 2013 if the year ended here (after 2013, 2018 and 2022). The 30 September reading of ₹95.93 was the weakest of the quarter-ends; three weeks later the rupee has recovered about 1.4% from it.

On 21 October the database also has the euro at ₹106.22 and the pound at ₹126.54; the rupee against sixteen currencies over five and ten years is in this earlier comparison.

What this does and doesn't say

• It is year-end snapshots. A rate in the middle of a year can be well away from either end.
• Funds that hold foreign assets carry the currency. The effect on overseas funds is that a weaker rupee adds to rupee returns, and a stronger rupee subtracts from them. The same logic runs through the international funds and the rupee post.
• Gold is priced in dollars globally. Part of the rupee's gold return comes from the currency; see gold in rupees versus gold in dollars.

Rates are the daily reference rates stored in the WealthTicker database, as of 21 October 2026. This is history and not a forecast of the exchange rate.