8 charts that explain 3-year backstory behind PM Modi’s austerity appeal

The reasons for the drought of dollars in India — most visible in the weakening value of rupee — is not rooted in the events of the past few months. It has been brewing for nearly three years, and has now been pushed to a crisis point by the Iran conflict and shifting US trade policies.
For decades, the rupee value (called exchange rate) was a simple tug-of-war between products we imported (oil/gold) and products we exported. It’s called trade balance. But, in India’s case, that meant ‘trade deficit’ because we imported more than we exported. However, starting in the 1990s, and especially in the past two decades, the math got more complicated.