New Delhi, Feb 9 (IANS): MoS Finance Anurag Thakur informed the House that despite the pandemic the Indian currency has appreciated 3.39 percent and there has been no downgrading of the Rupee as the Foreign Reserve is at $590 billion.

Thakur was responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha on whether the rupee has been devalued.

The Minister said that there was some impact on the economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic but the status of the Rupee has appreciated 3.39 percent.

The Minister also informed the House that the country needs strong and more banks and the government is trying to recapitalise the banks.

Earlier in an interview with IANS the Minister of State for Finance, Thakur had said: "We have done the asset quality review of the banks; we have done the recapitalisation of more than Rs 5.5 lakh crore for public sector banks."

He had said: "India needs more facilities for the consumers or the people who bank. Then what do you do? You have 12 banks. We have done the amalgamation/merger of banks, we have strengthened the banks, brought them out of the PCA framework. But the government can't keep on investing in the banks, every year. They have to stand on their feet, or they have to earn, they have to be more profitable."