No need to panic over rupee devaluation: Arun Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday sought to allay fears over the steep fall in the Indian rupee`s value against the US dollar and said the inherent strength of the country`s economy will aid in arresting the downtrend.

The recent trend in the Indian rupee`s devaluation has been caused due to external factors such as fluctuations in the global crude oil prices, trade war tensions and outflows of funds towards the US. Jaitley said.

"No need for the world`s fastest-growing economy to come out with panic and knee-jerk reaction...," Jaitley said at a media briefing after the meeting of the Union Cabinet.

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''RBI is certainly doing whatever is necessary. No need for the world`s fastest-growing economy to come out with panic and knee-jerk reaction...," Jaitley said at a media briefing after the meeting of the Union Cabinet.

''We must bear in mind that dollar has strengthened against almost every currency. The Rupee has either consistently strengthened or remained in a range, not weakened. Most of the other currencies of the world, compared to what it was 4-5 yrs ago, Rupee is better off,'' Jaitley said.

Speaking on  Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), he said the government has decided to make the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) an open-ended scheme and added more incentives to encourage people to open bank accounts.

Jaitley said as the scheme has been a "runway success", the government has decided to make it an open-ended scheme, meaning that it will continue indefinitely. 

The PMJDY was launched in August 2014 for a period of four years as a national mission for financial inclusion to ensure access of financial services like bank accounts, insurance and pensions to the masses.

To make the scheme more attractive, the government has decided to double the overdraft facility from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000, the minister said. 

He further said that 32.41 crore accounts have been opened under the scheme and as much Rs 81,200 crore has been deposited in them so far. 

Jaitley said 53 per cent of the PMJDY account holders are women, while 83 per cent of the accounts is seeded with Aadhaar.