Mumbai, May 20 (IANS): After the seventh and final phase of the 17th Lok Sabha polls ended on Sunday, the unofficial 'Satta Bazaar' here had bookies and punters in a tizzy with the predictions made in exit polls which were declared tonight largely favouring Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP's win.

The bookies have virtually embraced Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party and rejected outright the Congress and its chief Rahul Gandhi, as per latest trends available late on Sunday.

As per the bookies, the BJP-NDA could easily touch and even cross the 300-seat mark, way over the minimum required and magic figure of 272 of the total 543 seats in the Lok Sabha.

On the other hand, the Congress-led 'Mahagathbandhan' could lag far behind with around 150 seats, and other regional parties getting the rest.

As far as the country's business community is concerned, the odds strongly are in favour of Modi retaining the top job, with the opposition Congress and its allies way behind, marking a significant change in the situation from barely a month ago.