If you are planning a trip abroad, now is the time to lock in your forex. A 10% depreciation in the rupee over the past year means your travel budget stretches significantly less across flights, hotels, tuition, and every daily expense in a foreign country. The earlier you secure your exchange rate, the more you save.
The Indian rupee weakened past the 95 per dollar mark for the first time, hitting 95.21 per dollar on March 30, 2026, its worst fiscal year since FY12 with a 9.85% depreciation. Brent crude surging above $115, heavy foreign investor outflows, and the West Asia conflict drove the historic slide.
This guide covers what pushed the rupee to 95, how it changes your travel and forex costs, what the RBI is doing about it, and the exact steps to protect your spending power before you fly.
Why Did the Rupee Fall to ₹95?
The immediate trigger is the ongoing conflict in West Asia. As the conflict drags on, Brent crude has surged nearly 100%, from around $60 at the start of the Iran war to over $120 per barrel, the highest in four years. India imports more than 80% of its crude oil, so when oil prices surge, Indian importers rush to buy more dollars, putting intense downward pressure on the rupee.
Foreign portfolio investors offloaded more than $13 billion during March alone, the steepest monthly outflow on record. When foreign portfolio investors pull money out of Indian equities and convert their rupees back to dollars, it creates a second wave of selling pressure on the currency.
The RBI’s forex reserves fell by $30 billion in March 2026, of which $16 billion was a fall in foreign currency assets. At the start of the Iran conflict, India’s forex reserves stood at $728 billion; within three weeks, they declined sharply to $698 billion.
How Does a Weaker Rupee Affect Your Travel Budget?
The math is straightforward. When the rupee was at 83 against the dollar two years ago, a $1,000 trip cost you ₹83,000. At 95, that same trip costs ₹95,000. That is ₹12,000 extra for every $1,000 you spend, a nearly 15% increase without any change in your actual plans.
This impact multiplies across every category of travel spending. Hotel bookings priced in foreign currency, international flight surcharges tied to fuel costs (which are also rising because of the same oil crisis), visa fees, travel insurance, dining, shopping, and even something as small as an airport coffee all become more expensive when converted back to rupees.
For students heading abroad, the effect is even sharper. A semester’s tuition and living expenses denominated in dollars, pounds, or euros can swing by lakhs of rupees over just a few weeks of currency movement.
What the RBI Is Doing?
The rupee fell 4.04% in March 2026 alone, its worst month since Covid. On March 28, the RBI capped banks’ Net Open Rupee Position at $100 million per day, effective April 10, to curb speculative dollar bets. Despite this, early gains faded as importer demand and arbitrage trades overwhelmed the move. Traders say the rupee’s structure remains bearish, and the RBI’s cap does not change the underlying dynamics driving the fall.
Analysts warn that persistently high energy prices could push the currency beyond 95 per dollar if the West Asia conflict continues without de-escalation. For you as a traveler or forex buyer, the takeaway is simple: do not wait for the rupee to “recover” before booking your forex. The recovery, if it comes, depends on geopolitical events that no one can predict with certainty.
What You Should Do Right Now to Protect Your Money?
Why a forex card works better than your regular debit or credit card abroad.
When you swipe a rupee denominated debit or credit card overseas, your bank converts the transaction at the day’s market rate and adds a foreign transaction markup of 2.5% to 3.5% on top. In a falling rupee environment, you are exposed twice: once to the weaker rate and again to the markup fee. A prepaid forex card eliminates both. The rate is locked at the time of loading, and there is no conversion markup on transactions in the loaded currency. Even zero markup cards do not solve the core problem: the conversion still happens at whatever the market rate is when you swipe, so a bad overnight move hits your budget with no warning. A forex card gives you a fixed number in foreign currency before departure.
Lock your exchange rate today, not at the airport.
Airport kiosks charge markups of 5 to 8% above the interbank rate, which on top of a record low compounds into a brutal loss. BookMyForex lets you lock a rate with just a 2% refundable deposit, fixing your budget regardless of what happens next week.
Load a prepaid forex card before departure.
Once you load money at today’s rate, any further rupee weakness has zero impact on your spending abroad. BookMyForex’s multi currency forex card supports 14 currencies, works globally, and can be managed entirely through the app.
Set a rate alert if your trip is weeks away.
You do not need to convert everything today, but you should know when the rate dips in your favour. Volatile markets always produce brief recovery windows. BookMyForex rate alerts catch those for you.
Carry a 90:10 split between card and cash.
Load 90% on your forex card, keep 10% as physical notes for vendors, such as street food stalls, small taxis, or local markets, where cards are not accepted.
Always decline dynamic currency conversion.
When a merchant abroad offers to charge you in rupees instead of the local currency, say no. Their conversion rate plus fee will always be worse than the rate already locked on your forex card.
Will the Rupee Recover Soon?
Not in the near term. Analysts at Nomura described India as one of the most vulnerable economies within Asia to an energy price shock, with options pricing indicating roughly a 41% probability of the rupee reaching 100 per dollar by year-end. The rupee is on course to log its steepest fiscal year drop since 2011-12. Analysts say the RBI’s position cap is not a trend reversal, as crude above $100 and persistent FII outflows remain structural headwinds that no position cap can fully neutralise.
The smarter approach is not to wait for a recovery but to manage your forex exposure now. Book your currency at live rates, use a forex card to lock in today’s number, and avoid every unnecessary fee between here and your destination. The travelers who get hurt most in a falling rupee environment are the ones who do nothing and convert piecemeal at whatever rate is available on the day.
About the Author
Amrita Pritam is the Head of PR and Marketing at BookMyForex and a fintech communications leader with over 15 years of experience. She closely tracks cross-border payments and regulatory developments impacting Indian travellers and students.
