New Delhi, Aug. 13 -- As I write this column, I look at how the Indian rupee has done since the beginning of 2025. At first glance, it appears that nothing too out of the ordinary happened, with the rupee depreciating a gentle 2.2% against the US dollar. But change the reference currency and it is down a whopping 15% versus the euro and the Swiss franc and 9% versus the British pound.

With all the ups and downs of student visas to the US, if you were now thinking of sending your daughter to Europe to study, the bill has suddenly shot up by 15% in a matter of months.

Go back over the years and the picture begins to look even worse. When I started working in the 1980s, the US dollar exchanged hands at Rs.12. Today, it has depreciated by a...