Rupee’s pain has a global address

The rupee was Asia’s worst-performing currency last calendar year, depreciating by more than 6 per cent against the dollar (nearly 10 per cent in FY26). This is striking because India was simultaneously the fastest-growing major economy in the world. A currency does not usually weaken when an economy is thriving. When it does, the explanation lies not at home but abroad, in the workings of the global dollar system itself. And that system has rarely looked more powerful. The dollar enters the second half of 2026 as the world’s best-performing major currency, lifted by expectations of Fed rate hikes and…