New Delhi, Aug. 30 -- The rupee may remain under structural depreciation pressure despite the Reserve Bank of India's efforts to rebuild its foreign-exchange war chest, with domestic brokerage firm Systematix estimating a new average annual depreciation path of around 6.5 per cent for the currency.

In its latest India economy report, Systematix said the RBI's foreign-currency mobilisation could provide temporary stability, but argued that the underlying forces driving rupee weakness have not been resolved. Without aggressive RBI intervention, the Indian currency could already have crossed the Rs 100-per-dollar mark, according to the research house.

Systematix noted that the rupee has depreciated about 17 per cent over the past two years...