Budget will energize the economy
H K Press, president, Godrej Consumer Products said that there would be an indirect impact from the agricultural loan waiver given to farmers, and the increase in the standard limits of income tax, in the form of stimulated demand for the FMCG industry. Press said that the direct impact would be from the drop in excise duty, and some packaging materials excise duty coming down. He expressed disappointment about the absence of a much-anticipated drop in customs duty.

Budget designed to tame inflation
Abheek Barua, chief economist, HDFC Bank, Delhi, said that the budget, as the finance minister said as much, is focused on taming inflation. Barua says that though the budget acknowledges the possibility of lower growth, it does not take explicit expansionary measures, highlighting that ''reducing the fiscal deficit to a level below the FRBM target could be seen as a measure to try and reduce aggregate demand.'' He says the excise cuts have been done to ease up pressure on the price front.

Budget should recognise airlines as part of infrastructure
G R Gopinath, chairman, Deccan Aviation expressed his disappointment with the government for not considering airlines as infrastructure, while it has chosen to accord infrastructure status to airports, roads, and ports. ''There is no airport without an airline,'' said Gopinath, adding that in while infrastructure firms benefit from the tax concessions to and preferred acquisition of land at low prices, airlines are highly taxed and jet fuel is very costly.

Gopinath said that the economy could not be independent of aviation, and the mindset that airlines are for the rich should change.

Budget should recognise airlines as part of infrastructure
Jagdish Mitra, CEO, Canvasm, a joint venture company of Motorola and Tech Mahindra, said that the increase in service tax on packaged and customised products was not a good idea at the moment. Mitra said the move will hit the sector in India, especially systems integrators like Canvasm.

He added that IT services sector in India is on a growth trajectory, and the move will increase the cost of doing business in India. Mitra welcomes the setting up of data centres as a positive measure, and looked forward to reviewing the details to evaluate an increase in the scope of infrastructure management services.

Budget about boosting consumption and driving growth
R Anand, head-investments, Standard Chartered Mutual Fund said that the budget will give a boost to consumption through the waiver of loans to farmers, which will in turn pump up the rural economy. Also, cuts in excise duty should pump consumption for two- and four-wheelers, which will help drive growth.

However, Anand was slightly disappointed from the market perspective, on account of the increase in short-term capital gains tax, no changes to the dividend distribution and corporate tax structure. He felt that the target to reach 2.5 per cent on fiscal deficit is also positive, though he did have some doubts on that being achieved, not having ''looked at the numbers.''

Defence allocation a pleasant surprise
Hiranya Ashar, chief financial officer, Rolta India said the increase in defence budget was an unexpected, though pleasant surprise, and represents a great opportunities for companies like Rolta who are engaged in services for the defence sector. Ashar estimated a doubling of the IT-spends on account of the 10 per cent hike in allocation to the defence sector, though he was cautious about the statement, and said he'd like to ''see the fine-print on it.''