A mix of good, bad and ugly

"There are a couple of good aspects in the budget, like the thrust on agriculture and rural marketing. The finance minister also talked about the new plans on ports and increased the outlay for health and education. This is really a maintenance-oriented budget. There is no mention about second-generation reforms, that is labour law reforms," says Tube Investments of India managing director V A Raghu.

"But I dont see any growth impetus in this budget. A growth of 5 per cent is not adequate. Who is going to invest now when there is already an excess capacity? So the 15 per cent additional depreciation benefit is not much of practical use to propel the economy," he says.

Similarly, raw material costs in India is still on the high side. For instance, domestic steel is expensive compared to imports, thus hampering the countrys growth. Raghu says the share of the manufacturing sector in the GDP is going down. "Instead of inflation there is a fear of deflation in India."

"We at Tube Investments will look out for a cheaper source of components, rather than setting up new manufacturing units. We are now importing some components for our bicycles and are thinking of doing the same in respects of chains made by the group company, TI Diamond Chains," he says.

Echoing the same sentiment, Cognizant Technology Solutions president and COO N Lakshmi Narayanan says: "There is some positive direction for infrastructure and agriculture. The key segments in infrastructure, such as power, ports and aviation being opened up for private participation and the package concessions offered for private participation under the Greenfield Airport project, will benefit upcoming projects in Bangalore and Hyderabad."

But, he says, there is no aggressive push to expedite the reforms process and revive the economy. "The current budget shows no indication of opening up of our markets and increasing FDI inflows. The need of the hour is to open up sectors such as retail to foreign companies and to give the right thrust for infrastructure development projects like the Golden Quadrilateral."

Narayanan says the budget is harsh and penalising on the salaried class and the common man. "The withdrawal of 20 per cent tax rebate above Rs 1,50,000, along with increased prices of LPG and railway tariffs, will impact the salaried class."

Sums up Laser Soft Infosystems chairman B Suresh Kamath: "The reintroduction of dividend tax in the hands of the recipients and the 5 per cent security surcharge on tax will affect the capital markets and the bottomline of corporates. The changes in section 88B and reduction of interest rates will affect adversely the lower middle-class population. The budget has ignored the employment generation for poor citizens and the physically-challenged."