Rupee not sliding, dollar strengthening incessantly: Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi, Oct 16: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended the performance of the rupee, saying it is not sliding but the US dollar is strengthening incessantly.

Addressing a press conference in Washington DC Sitharaman said, "The rupee is not sliding, the dollar is strengthening incessantly...All other currencies are performing against the dollar."

The finance minister added that the Indian rupee has performed better than any other emerging market currency.

"Dollar is strengthening incessantly. So obviously, all other currencies are performing against the strengthening dollar. I am not talking about technicalities but it is a matter of fact India's rupee probably has withstood this dollar rate going up...I think the Indian rupee has performed much better than many other emerging market currencies," said Sitharaman.

"Efforts are being made by the RBI to ensure there is not too much volatility... It is not (for the RBI) to intervene in the market to fix the value of the rupee," said Sitharaman.

Sitharaman's remarks comes even after the rupee fell to an all-time low of 82.68 against the US dollar during early trade on Monday.

The rupee fell by 8 paise to close at 82.32 against the US dollar on Friday amid a firm greenback overseas and sliding crude oil prices.