. 19. on the external front, de - globalisation and protectionism are gaining ground as witnessed during the recent global supply - chain shock. it is thus necessary to build and strengthen bilateral trade relations to deal with such challenges. india has recently signed bilateral trade agreements with the uae and australia and more such agreements are works in progress. the average current account deficit to gdp ratio stands at 3. 3 per cent during h1 : 2022 - 23. the slowing global demand is weighing on merchandise exports ; but our exports of services and remittances remain strong. the net balance under services and remittances remains in a large surplus, partly offsetting the trade deficit. consequently, the current account deficit is eminently manageable and within the parameters of viability. 20. on the financing side, net fdi flows remain strong and foreign portfolio flows have resumed since july 2022, with intermittent outflows from time to time the size of forex reserves is comfortable and has gone up from usd 524 billion on october 21, 2022 to usd 572 billion as on january 13, 2023. further, india ’ s external debt ratios are low by international standards. this has enabled the reserve bank to eschew measures to control capital flows and take steps to further internationalise the domestic currency, even during episodes of significant capital outflows. 21. every global risk - off episode resulted in an appreciating us dollar imposing downward pressures on most other currencies. comparison of the performance 10 of the rupee across successive crisis episodes source : data from bloomberg has been used to evaluate the performance of rupee. tells its own tale. during the global financial crisis, the rupee witnessed its worst depreciation - between april 1, 2008 and march 3, 2009 when it lost 23 % against the us dollar. similarly, it depreciated by 22 % during the taper tantrum between may 01, 2013 and aug 28, 2013. however, the extent of rupee depreciation was lower in each subsequent episode of turbulence. in the initial days of the pandemic, i. e., between february 17, 2020 and april 21, 2020, the rupee depreciated by only 7 %. even during the period of geopolitical tensions emerging out of ukraine in 2022, while the rupee lost 9 % against the us dollar between february 24, 2022 and october 19, 2022, it outper

financial markets in india : in pursuit of stability and development keynote address by shri shaktikanta das, governor, reserve bank of india at the 22nd fimmda - pdai annual conference on january 27, 2023, dubai it is my pleasure to be part of the annual fimmda 1 - pdai 2 conference today. i would like to place on record the reserve bank ’ s appreciation of the critical role played by fimmda and pdai in the development of financial markets in india over the years, and more recently, in partnering with the rbi in guiding the markets and the economy through the turbulent times of covid - 19, the war in ukraine and the turmoil in financial markets. 2. today, as i speak before keen market players, veterans and experts, i thought this would be an opportune moment to recapture the journey of our financial markets in the last decade or so and reflect on where we are and what we think about the course ahead. an attempt to draw from the past and forge ahead, so to speak. 3. from the global financial crisis to the eurozone sovereign debt crisis ; from the taper tantrum to brexit ; from unprecedented quantitative easing to among the most accelerated monetary tightening in recent memory ; from a pandemic which brought humankind to a standstill to a geopolitical crisis which threatens the world order as it exists today - it fixed income money market and derivatives association of india ( fimmda ) primary dealers ’ association of india ( pdai ) would not be an exaggeration to say that the world has moved from one storm to another in the years since the global financial crisis. 4. against this backdrop, the journey of indian financial markets has been driven by two key objectives – stability and development. crisis management has been a key component of this journey. nonetheless, the pursuit of developmental reforms, with the key objective of widening and deepening of financial markets was continued even amidst the worst storms. the journey so far 5. let me take a moment to reflect on the journey of indian financial markets over the past few decades. right up to the end of the 1980s, the indian economy was characterised by an administered interest rate regime, fixed exchange rates, a captive government securities market and current and capital account restrictions. policy measures during the decade of the 1990s set the stage for a transition to market - determined interest and exchange rates, shift to a multiple indicator approach and eventually to flexible inflation targeting in the conduct of monetary