Rupee Gains of 35% Seen in Decisive Victory for Modi: Currencies

A victory for India’s main opposition party in next month’s general elections is seen powering the rupee to highs last reached in 2008.

Polls show Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is poised to oust the incumbent Congress party, a result that would be a “catalyst” for a long-term advance in the rupee toward 40 to 45 per dollar, from 61.19 on March 14, according to Adam Gilmour, Citigroup Inc.’s head of Asia-Pacific currency and derivatives sales. A weak coalition would be the “worst-case” outcome, he said, and might send the currency sliding beyond August’s record low of 68.845.