A man holds a Rs 100 note and a $1 note at a foreign exchange office in Hyderabad on May 16. | AFP Amidst the crisis in West Asia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged restraint on gold purchases. But asking Indians to abstain now is like asking them to swim against the tide.Modi, it is clear, is attempting to conserve precious foreign currency as the rupee has weakened from Rs 85- Rs 86 per US dollar in mid?2025 to around Rs 95 by mid?2026 – roughly a 10% year?on?year depreciation.In the 2025-’26 financial year, India imported $71.98 billion worth...