Exit poll results lead to stronger Indian Rupee

Business Monday 20/May/2019 13:56 PM
By: Times News Service
Exit poll results lead to stronger Indian Rupee

Muscat: Indian expats living in Oman can expect to receive only about INR 180 for a single Omani Rial, after the rupee climbed strongly in the wake of the predicted result of the ongoing Indian elections.

The Indian rupee hovered around INR 183 for a single Omani Rial just four days ago, but after the exit polls during the current Lok Sabha elections in India reportedly show a victory for current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian rupee has reflected sharp growth.

Exchange house officials in the Sultanate say this is because of the confidence in the upcoming election results, but they added that they were unsure about whether the Indian rupee would stay this strong even after the elections were declared.

Zachariah PS, the general manager for Musandam Exchange in Oman, said: “This is quite clearly due to the exit poll results, which gives a good picture to the current ruling party. Most of the results show that the current government will continue to rule with a majority. That is the first sentiment which is causing the rupee to become strong. But we still have to see some underlying current, such as the oil prices, because it places a heavy burden on the government.

“This oil price will be a heavy subject that they have to handle, because they have not yet touched the oil price for the retail sector in India,” he explained. “The rupee becoming strong is due to the exit poll results, which may or may not be correct, depending on the exit poll results.”

Narendra Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) are currently in power, and if the exit polls are to be believed, they will continue to stay in power even after 23 May, the day on which the votes will be counted and the election results will be announced.

“During the daytime, we don’t have any fixed rate, but we gave today a rate of about INR 180.45, and yesterday, we gave more than INR 181, so there was a difference of more than a rupee as compared to the Omani Rial,” said Zachariah. “We will see what rate we will give tomorrow, because we will see the real rate in the evening, around 3:30pm in Oman. Four of five days ago, last week, we were giving rates that were higher than INR 182 per Omani Rial.”

He added: “If this rupee exchange rate is going to stay this way, I would advise people in Oman to convert their Rials to Indian rupees now, because the exchange rate will get stronger if the current government stays in power. Those who want to convert later will have a difficult time getting better rates. In the long-term, my opinion is that the rupee will still become weak, because once the government takes over, they will have to handle so many other issues.