If India is the fastest-growing big economy, why invest elsewhere?

No market performs consistently and one should diversify asset holdings across multiple markets

- DEVINA MEHRA

As I write this column, I look at how the Indian rupee has done since the beginning of 2025. At first glance, it appears that nothing too out of the ordinary happened, with the rupee depreciating a gentle 2.2% against the US dollar. But change the reference currency and it is down a whopping 15% versus the euro and the Swiss franc and 9% versus the British pound.

With all the ups and downs of student visas to the US, if you were now thinking of sending your daughter to Europe to study, the bill has suddenly shot up by 15% in a matter of months.

Go back over the years and the picture begins to look even worse. When I started working in the 1980s, the US dollar exchanged hands at 12. Today, it has depreciated by almost 90% in the course of less than a career. That is a straight hit to your portfolio, one that you often do not think about.

In all financial planning, you target long-term goals, typically 10, 20 or 30 years hence: for retirement, children's education, etc. You simply cannot afford to forget the fact that the rupee depreciates over time.

If anything, over time many more Indians want to holiday abroad and want themselves or their children to study overseas. Several people have kids living elsewhere and want to spend some time with them after retirement.