MUMBAI: The rupee broke the psychologically crucial 90 mark against the US dollar for the first time and slid to an intra-day low of 90.29 against the greenback on Wednesday before settling 32 paise below Tuesday’s close at 90.19, extending a decline that now threatens to spill over into the wider economy.

The currency has weakened 5.5% since Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcement on April 2. So far this year, foreign portfolio investors have withdrawn over $17 billion, while several private equity players have cashed out during billion-dollar IPOs by some of the marquee startups, adding to outflows from India. What has heightened the pressure in recent months is higher gold and silver prices, which resulted in a record imports and trade deficit in Oct. A report by SBI research te

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