New Delhi, Dec. 4 -- For the rupee, finding a floor seems to be getting difficult. On Wednesday, it slid past the psychologically-important 90 mark against the dollar to touch an all-time low of 90.29, before recovering slightly to end at 90.19. For the year, it is down about 5%.

While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is believed to have intervened by selling dollars, its presence was found to be fleeting, in keeping with its largely hands-off approach seen this year.

The government too seems unruffled, with chief economic advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran saying that he "isn't losing sleep" over the rupee's decline.

The utterances of policymakers have firmed up the forex market's reading of a subtle shift in currency policy. With Indian ex...