Mumbai: For the first time, the Indian rupee today breached the 50-mark per dollar in early trade on the back of heavy capital outflows by foreign funds and increased demand for dollar denominated imports.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange market (Forex), the local currency, which closed at 49.81/82 against US dollar yesterday, plunged by 22 paise to 50.03 in early trade.

Yesterday, the government had said that the rupee is expected to be less volatile with pressure on capital inflows easing.

"The value of rupee is something which is based upon a large number of parameters including capital inflows. With pressure easing on these parameters, rupee is expected to be less volatile," Economic Affairs Secretary Ashok Chawla had said.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had attributed depreciation of the rupee to redemption pressures faced by some FIIs.

Rupee has depreciated by around 20 per cent since the beginning of this fiscal.

Source : PTI