The Indian rupee sank to an all-time low of 88.64 against the United States dollar in early trade on Tuesday amid external headwinds such as tariffs imposed by Washington and increase in the H-1B visa fee.

The depreciation of the rupee was also driven by uncertainty around the trade policy and risk aversion among domestic investors, PTI reported.

The rate of 88.64 at 10.45 am marked a fall of 36 paise per dollar from its closing rate on Monday, which was 88.28. The previous all-time low was 88.44 on September 11.

The rupee is Asia’s worst-performing currency this year, Bloomberg reported on August 29.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order, asking companies to pay $100,000 for new H-1B visa applicants. Prior to this, companies were paying $215 to register for the H-1B visa lottery, in addition to several filing fees.

H-1B visas allow companies in the US to temporarily employ foreign workers for special occupations.

Over the past few years, Indians have constituted the majority of H-1B visa holders. Indians comprised 72.3% of all H-1B visas issued by the US in the financial year 2022-’23.

The impact was seen on the stock market on Monday, when the sub-index of information technology companies fell nearly 3%, Reuters reported.

India’s technology sector earns about 57% of its revenue from the US and has been a long-standing beneficiary of the H-1B visa programme.

India is also facing headwinds from Trump having imposed so-called reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods and punitive levies for purchasing Russian oil amid the Ukraine war.

Earlier on Monday, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in New York to accelerate the trade negotiations between the two countries, according to reports.

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