New Delhi, Oct. 13 -- India's boldest effort in more than a decade to support the rupee may offer only temporary relief, with persistent currency weakness complicating the central bank's task as it.

While the newly imposed measures propelled the rupee to its biggest gain in six months on Monday, longer-term pressures-from India's dependence on energy imports to its twin deficits and volatile capital flows-are proving harder to counter, according to economists and investors. Failure to tackle those pain points may keep the rupee under strain, adding to inflation and forcing the Reserve Bank of India to be more aggressive in hiking interest rates.

Crude oil and gold account for a large share of India's imports and trade deficit, making th...