The Indian rupee breached 88 to the U.S. dollar for the first time on Friday, extending a week-long slide as investors reacted to steep U.S. tariffs on Indian exports and continued foreign-portfolio outflows. The currency briefly touched ₹88.00 before trimming losses, surpassing the previous record low of ₹87.95. Traders said they expect the Reserve Bank of India to defend the currency near current levels after suspected interventions around ₹87.80 earlier in the session. More than $1 billion has left Indian equities over the past two days, while weaker regional currencies added to downward pressure. Market sentiment has deteriorated since President Donald Trump imposed tariffs of up to 50 percent—widely cited as a 25 percent across-the-board increase—on Indian goods, penalising New Delhi for continued purchases of Russian oil. Brokerage Jefferies estimates the measures could subtract $55-60 billion from output, although several Indian think-tanks put the GDP impact at only 0.1–0.3 percentage points. A Reserve Bank bulletin published earlier in the day described the economy as “resilient” but flagged U.S. trade policy as the main downside risk. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect April-June growth to slow to 6.7 percent from 7.4 percent in the previous quarter, with tariffs and currency weakness likely to darken the outlook. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking in an interview with Nikkei, said India intends to “remain friends” with Washington even as it strengthens ties with other Asian partners ahead of next week’s BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meetings.