BUDGET - 2010

Budget definitely takes much of the news and newspaper section leaving little room for abused, drugged, raped, abducted and murdered Indians. Such is the phenomena or the euphoria created around the Budget. Over the past few years, Budget just became an annual exercise esp. in this era of coalition politics, when the Govts’ purposely kept the important decisions outside the preview of the Budget and made it merely a Profit & Loss Statement than an Annual Report.

The only Budget that financial pundits remember or would like to think are 1991 Manmohan Singh Budget, 1998 PC Budget and of course, Yashwant Sinha from BJP had been the cynosure for drawing flak from all the six corners of India. The lackluster annual exercise by Pranabda during last year, the analysts and experts had not built any hopes. Will this Budget be remembered for the staged walk out by the Opposition from Lok Sabha, perhaps first or something else? I really liked the fiery style of Sushma Swaraj and her command over Hindi and the way she made her points. As the saying goes, success honours you and destroys you at the same time. She is currently redressing to the later part of the saying. The Opposition walked over one rupee rise in oil prices. It will add to the woes of the inflationary pressures. But then market expected to rise by few rupees, so it was still a breather. Moreover the Govt. should always be thinking in favour of OMCs (Oil Marketing Companies).

Yes the food inflation and food security is one of the biggest concerns for India of today and will remain tomorrow and not the growth or the GDP. 60% of our economy or India is dependent on agriculture, yet we are not in a pitiable state either. If your battered vehicle cannot give improved mileage, then we reduce the amount of petrol which goes into running the engine. But our Govt. has tried to undertake something better. They have increased the tax slabs for individuals, which in other words, increases the real income in our hands.

But this Budget is perhaps one amongst the best with the caveats, Coalition Govt. and the Financial Crisis. The Govt. has been juggling with the lower demand of products and services, lower exports, rising inflation, rising fiscal deficit and to top it all, they had slashed tax rates, duties, cess’ applicable on sundry and all and sacrificing income, still they are able to lower the fiscal deficit and feed the poor developed or perhaps poorly managed schemes for the poor. I liked the renewed focus on Agriculture to bring something positive in this space. Hope they are able to pull this off. Because in India, all the good things are virtue of our politicians and all the bad things are blamed on the monsoon.

The FM made a point throughout his Budget speech to usher in a process of inclusive growth. The inclusive growth can be achieved by bringing the economy back on growth path with GDP of 9 % per annum and to take the government back on the path of fiscal consolidation.

Private players will be issued Bank Licenses. In 2002, RBI cleared few licenses and now after a long lull they will be issuing licenses. Reliance (non-reliable) Bank, Singh (Religare) Bank, Birla Bank, Modi Bank, India (IndiaBulls) Bank some of the leading financial services/NBFC conglomerates will be vouching for that slot. As a consumer, it will become more harassing to entertain few more useless marketing calls from few more useless service providers. At the same time, I hope something better from these new-age industrialized houses to better the customer experience.

Direct Tax Code, General Sales Tax Regime may become a reality for FY 2011-12.

Markets cheered and roared for Pranabda’s efforts which touched an intra-day high of 350-400 points (2 %) at the conclusion of Budget speech and still managed to close at 175 points (1 %) in positive.

With the hope to leapfrog the growth rate of Indian economy in double digits, Pranabda concluded the Budget 2010-11.