Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday sought to assuage fears in the economy over the large-scale sell-off in the stock markets and the fall in the rupee by saying that these are simply reactions to external events, and that there was no internal cause for these shocks.


"Three different external causes -- the situation in Europe, the uncertainty surrounding the Fed rate cut, and China's Yuan devaluation -- have affected Indian markets," the Finance Minister said while speaking at the inaugural session of the Annual Conference of the Chief Commissioners and Directors General of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax.


The markets will settle down soon, Jaitley added, maintaining that these are transient and temporary effects and that the government and the Reserve Bank of India were watching the situation closely, reports the Hindu.


The Sensex has so far plunged more than 1,700 points on Monday, while the rupee sank below 67 to the dollar.