A Budget that made the Markets think realistic and something which did not really benefit most Industrialists...

First of all a lot was expected from this budget probably like the media and the markets we also

had unrealistic expectations with everybody wanting fast track reforms and stuff probably

forgetting the current crisis which we are in the midst of.

Yes, I personally was disappointed with the Part B of the budget pertaining to the tax

proposals especially the Direct Taxes part of it.The personal income tax exemption raised by

just 10,000 was a real small amount and did not seem to make much of a difference to majority

of the taxpayers. Most of them were hoping for the tax exemption limit to be raised by 30,000

to 40,000 which would have given confidence to the people in these tough times instead it would

have been better not to have made any changes to the existing limits. One of the few things that

we could cheer about was abolishing the Fringe Benefit Tax and Commodity Transaction Tax.

Also the introduction of Goods and Services Tax(GST) from 2010 seems to be a good proposal

which is expected to bring uniformity in taxes whether it works or not would be interesting to

see. The Government's decision to substantially improve the pension of the retired defence

pensioners below officer rank is a very good move as they deserved to be rewarded for their

great services rendered for which the country is thankful to them. Focusing on Infrastructure

which is one of the most important factors in the growth of an economy is a step in the right

direction and hopefully there would be many more projects completed in the next 5 years.

Hopefully we would see more development in Rural as well as urban Infrastructure. To generate

12 million jobs per year is a positive step in the right direction and unemployment in the next 5

years would see a drastic fall if the government is able to achieve its target. Now coming to

the major issue of Disinvestment, the Finance Minister by stating that public sector enterprises

such as banks and insurance companies will remain in the public sector and will be given all

support, including capital infusion, to grow and remain competitive has taken a bold step in the

right direction and is not rushing into it and privatising some of the profit making PSU's.

Increased credit flow for agriculture should hopefully increase the agricultural growth rate.

An increased allocation of more than 144% for NREGA was one of the biggest positives of this

budget.Surprisingly not much emphasis was given to education and healthcare which were

expected to be the key issues to be focused on.

The big corporate honchos also praised some of the social reforms though they did not get too

many sops in their favour. As one of the top Fund Managers of a leading Asset Mgt. Co put it the

Markets expected a T20 match but the government played it like a Test match not even a One

Day International. So the budget may help in the correction of the markets in the long run. All

said and done much as people may like to criticise the FM I think it had quite a few positives

that could be taken from it and Pranab needs to be appreciated to some extent considering the

situation the world is in and laying a platform to achieve 9% growth. We should hopefully see a

good Budget in Feb that will lay the foundation for the long run and create wonders if they go on

the right track. Congress has it in them to do wonders but can they live upto it is the big

question? Cheers!!!