Rupee up by 20 paise against US dollar at Rs 72.41

The rupee on Thursday opened on a positive note against the American dollar at 72.41, almost 20 paise up. This comes a day after the Indian government decided to hike import tariffs on 19 "non-essential items" in a bid to strengthen the tumbling Indian currency.

The new tariff structure, which goes into effect Thursday, will see the government raise customs duties on items such as air conditioners, refrigerators, footwear, speakers, luggage and aviation turbine fuel, among other items, news agency Reuters reported.

"This is positive news for the rupee given that it will help reduce India's current account deficit," said a forex trader at a foreign bank.

"This is a sentiment booster for the rupee," said SBI Chief Economist Soumya Kanti Ghosh, adding that the overall impact on current account deficit will be muted.

"The central bank needs to intervene more actively in the forex market to support the rupee. These tariff measures won't help in the long term," said Ghosh.

Meanwhile, Indian markets opened in green today with Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had closed at 36,542.27 points on Wednesday, opening higher at 36,691.93 points in the morning trade.

Nifty registered a hike of 8 points at 11,060.