SP Hinduja, Hinduja Group

Mumbai: SP Hinduja, Chairman, Hinduja Group has called the Budget 2008-09 as a very progressive one, with concern for common man that could be expected to bring in ''all-inclusive'' growth.  Hinduja said the focus has been on social sector, with emphasis on health, education, women and child welfare, insurance for poor people, and social security to organised sector. Two other focus areas in the Budget are physical infrastructure and controlling inflation.

According to Hinduja, the crucial challenge will be monitoring and implementation of the schemes where large sums of money are being pumped in. He said that the central and state governments must work in tandem to implement the schemes.

Although there has been no incentives provided for the NRIs in this budget, he expressed his happiness at seeing the recommendations of the IndusInd International Federation as part of the Budget in some form. The recommendations pertain to investment in social and physical infrastructure, monitoring and implementation, rationalisation of indirect taxes, reduction in personal taxation, trading in carbon credits, and activating the corporate bond market.