Live: Depreciation of the rupee has been a matter of concern, says Manmohan

New Delhi: 2:45 pm: A delegation of leaders of the BJP met the President on Friday after the Prime Minister's statement in both houses of Parliament. The BJP has given a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee.

"We have requested for early elections. This would clear the present situation of uncertainty because of the functioning of the government, inability to contain inflation, freefall of the rupee and other economic problems. We feel that it is in the interest of the country that a chance should be given to the voters to elect a fresh government for the country," Senior BJP leader LK Advani said after meeting the President.

1:45 pm: Singh reassured the House regarding the economic condition and said, "I say with all the emphasis at my disposal that we are not at the 1991 levels and we will not go to it. No reasons for anyone to believe that we are going down the hill".

1:44 pm: An aggressive Prime minister targeted the opposition saying, "Nowhere in the world members of Opposition walk into the well of House, and shout "PM chor hai".

1:38 pm: Singh sided away from making a direct statement on the allegations regarding the 'missing coal files' and said, "I am not a custodian of the files."

1:36 pm: Reacting to D Raja's allegations of corruption in the government, the Prime Minister said, "Corruption is there, has been there. In recent years the RTI and various agencies have brought out certain things that are regrettable but they can't be the reasons to disrupt Parliament".

1:30 pm: The Opposition members created ruckus over the statements from the Prime Minister.

1:26 pm: Amidst the rising opposition and demand for the Prime Minsiter to respond to the questions, Singh took an aggressive stand and blamed the opposition for the disruptions in the Parliament. "The opposition party does recognise its responsibilities in Parliament," he said.

1:05 pm: Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad blamed all sectors of the government to be affected by the corruption. RBI and government dont seem to be on the same page. "Is this being addressed? Why is manufacturing down? Why are Indians not investing in India? How much of bad loan is involved in 100s of projects which are down due to corruption?," he questioned.

12:57 pm: Contemplating on the state of the Indian economy, CPI Leader D Raja said "according to economists Indian currency is the worst in the world. Our economist PM should respond to this. He repeatedly mentions that fundamentals are strong, I want to know what are those fundamentals?," raja said. He also said that the government should review on our present policies as the country needs a 'paradigm shift in our economic development'.

12:45 pm: As the Prime Minister made his statement in the Rajya Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in the House Arun Jaitley criticised him and commented, "Finally the Prime Minister spoke on an issue of utmost concern to the country."

He also said that with the financial data to be be announced on Friday, the PM has given an indication that growth in this country will be flat. "Has PM realised the whole world was warning us, there is a spate of policy paralysis going on in India," Jaitley said.

12:40 pm: BJP leader Yashwant Sinha expressed his disappointment over the state of proceeding in the House and said "The Leader of Opposition stood to say something but the PM just left the house. He has insulted the opposition and the house. We are hurt by the PM's behaviour and so we walked out of the house.

He added that the government like always is trying to pass the buck on to the others for trouble in the economy. "It is the most disappointing and frustrating statement that the PM has chosen to give," he said.

12:27 pm: Dissatisfied with the Prime Minister's statement in the house, the BJP staged a walk-out from the Lok Sabha.

12: 16 pm: Manmohan Singh said that many bills have been stalled due to lack of political consensus and urged political parties to come together and get them through for the economic growth. "The easy reforms of the past have been done. For more difficult reforms, we need political consensus. I urge across political parties to work towards & join in the Government's efforts to put the economy back on the path of stable growth," he said.

12:15 pm: "We need to reduce our appetite for gold, economise the use of petroleum products and take steps to increase our exports," The Prime Minister said. He also added that there is a need to economise the use of petroleum products and take steps to increase the exports.

Reacting to a change in the policies the Prime Minister said that India has seen a growth in the last two decades as an open economy and benefited from it so there was no question of reversing these policies.

12:05 pm: The Prime Minister said that the sharp depreciation in the value of rupee value was due to certain external factors. He said that global factors like tension in Syria and prospects of US tapering its federal policy also had an impact on the economy. He admitted that the drop in exchange rate is a 'matter of concern'.

11:11 am: The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha yet again saw uproar on Friday morning. The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till noon after MPs shouting slogans for united Andhra Pradesh entered the well of the House. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party raised the missing coal scam files issue in the Rajya Sabha demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement. "The silence of the PM on missing coal files is disturbing," said Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley.

Meanwhile, Manmohan Singh is set to make a statement in both Houses of Parliament on the state of the economy. Ahead of that, the rupee opened at 67 vs the US dollar.

The markets opened slightly higher with the Sensex trading over 10 points up and Nifty too in the green. Facing attack over the economy amid sliding rupee, Manmohan Singh on Thursday conceded in Parliament that the country was going through a "difficult" situation and had to reckon with the uncertainties created by global factors like "new tensions" in Syria.

Singh made brief remarks in both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha as concerns were expressed over the rapid depreciation of rupee with the Opposition saying there was panic in the country. He promised to make a detailed statement on Friday.

(With additional information from PTI)