Local currency has dipped before major elections and recovered just ahead of results for decades R N Bhaskar | Mumbai When the rupee began ceding ground to the dollar in the last week of last August, setting alarm bells ringing for exporters and economists, a money market dealer was overheard saying, "It (the local currency) will be weak till February, after which it will begin to recover." The nonchalance elicited titters, but the dealer remained unfazed, smug even. For many elections now, he had watched the currency wobble and felt this time would be no different. True to form, the rupee continued to tumble. At one point, the Reserve Bank of India even indicated it will not intervene to arrest the slide. The local currency kept falling and even breached 53 per dollar in January - an all-time low. Soon, election dates got announced and the rupee price began stabilising, just the way the dealer had said it would. The rupee closed ...