Mumbai, Oct. 30 -- The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said the rupee should be the first line of defense in the face of external shocks, amid reports that the RBI resorted to massive market intervention to prop up the rupee. So, allowing the exchange rate to move freely to reflect the impact of these shocks is important to help the Indian economy adjust to these shocks. IMF Communications Director Julie Kozack stated that if significant rupee depreciation leads to broad-based increases in inflation, then our advice would be that monetary policy tightening could be considered to preserve price stability. So that's if the depreciation starts to feed into inflation. And more generally, foreign exchange intervention can be appropriat...