India central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken several steps to control the continuing fall of the rupee against the US dollar in recent days.

The RBI will aim at halting the fall in the value of the rupee by market intervention and measures to attract dollars. The move comes at a time when rupee lost 47 paise against the American currency in intra-day trade.

RBI’s steps include hiking interest rates on dollar-denominated foreign currency non-resident (banks) deposit schemes and allowing exporters to easily get foreign currency loans. Under the current rules, interest rates on FCNR (B) deposits were limited to 125 basis points above the prevailing Libor/Swap rates.

The central bank has increased the maximum limit to 200 basis points for deposits between one and three years and 300 basis points for deposits between three and five years. RBI said in a statement that the new rates will come into effect from May 5, 2012.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that volatility in global commodity prices are to be blamed for the depreciation in the value of rupee.

He also said that the worsening balance of payment (BoP) situation in many Asian countries also affected the value of the India rupee against the US dollar. He pointed out that fundamentals in the Indian economy have to be changed to make the growth more sustainable.