The Rupee Dollar Exchange Rate -II

 I have long been interested in knowing more about the historic Rupee Dollar exchange rates and the story of the devaluation of the Indian Rupee.I previously posted some data  I had gathered on the subject here:https://wealthymatters.com/2011/09/25/the-rupee-dollar-exchange-rate/ .This post contains some more data I came across today here http://www.mises.ca/posts/blog/are-weddings-in-india-really-driving-gold-prices/ :

In early controlled exchange rate regime, the rupee exchange rate hovered around Rs 4 in the 1950s, Rs 5 in the 60s, Rs 7 in the 70s, and Rs 8 in the 80s. The liberalized era of 90s was different, the rupee moved in the Rs 20s (the rupee was also partly decontrolled in early 90s) and Rs 40 in the decade of 2000.

Not to forget two major devaluations by the government in between. The rupee was devalued first in 1966 by a massive 60 per cent from Rs 4.76 to Rs 7.50 against the US dollar. Twenty five years later in the 90s, the rupee was again devalued by 20 per cent from Rs 20.5 to Rs 24.5 against the US greenback.

The reasons for the two devaluations were not too dissimilar; twin deficit (current account and fiscal), soaring inflation, insufficient foreign exchange reserves, and the developed world demanding decontrol and liberalization to allow them to do business in  India.

You can see the devaluation compared to the dollar below: