BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy said he is in favour of inscribing the picture of Goddess Lakshmi on banknotes as this may "improve the condition of Indian currency". "Nobody should feel bad about this," Swamy added. He said this in response to a question about the picture of Lord Ganesha printed on the Indonesian currency.

The Indian-rupee retrieved early losses to settle 12 paise higher at 71.70 against the US dollar, but overall forex-market-sentiments remained subdued amid further escalation in US-Iran tensions. At the foreign bank exchange, domestic unit opened significantly lower at 72.05/dollar as against the previous day's close of 71.82. During the day, it traded in the range of 72.07 and 71.69 to the US currency.

The rupee plunged by 42-paise to settle at a one-and-a-half-month low of 71.80 against the US-currency due to a spike in crude oil prices after US-President Donald Trump ordered the killing of a top Iranian general. General Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite al-Quds force and architect of its regional security apparatus, was killed following a US airstrike at Baghdad's international airport on Friday.