New Delhi, May 25 -- In the past few weeks, the rupee's slide and the expectation that it would breach the psychological 100-to-the-dollar mark has triggered familiar anxieties, reviving memories of the 2013 'taper tantrum' when India's currency lost almost a fifth of its value and hit a then-record low of 68.85.

Depending on which side of the ideological spectrum one leans toward, the reactions have been sharply divided, ranging from doomsday predictions to confident assertions that a weaker currency is perfectly acceptable, even beneficial, in such times.

The usual explanations-rising oil prices, a widening trade deficit, higher US interest rates and geopolitical tensions in West Asia-have all made their rounds, and all of these are v...