Anand Mahindra, president, CII
The new measures will further enhance the competitiveness of the Indian economy as well as propel India into a higher growth orbit. These measures clearly reflect the strong political will of the Government to drive reforms strongly. It shows the government's commitment to reform. It also belies expectations that reforms would be put in the backburner.

Y K Modi, president, FICCI
Reduction in excise duty on aviation turbine fuel and abolition of 15 per cent inland travel tax would give a boost to air travel. Reduction of duties on computers, coal, cellphones etc will add to the existing feel-good factor in the country. The reduction would also help in making the Indian economy globally competitive. The reduction in non-farm goods would have been done with simultaneous deepening of reforms in the areas of Labour and Power.

Anil Singhvi, director, Gujarat Ambuja Cements
The announcements are a welcome relief to the industry and demonstrate the confidence that the government has in the Indian economy. We have been witnessing a surge in feel good factor, which has also increased confidence in the economy. The announcement of abolition of special additional customs duty of 4 per cent is welcome. Particularly heartening for the cement industry is the news of reduction of import duty on coal from 25 per cent to 15 per cent and abolition of 4 per cent Special Additional Duty. This will help companies to further cut down their cost of production and be more competitive.

Mr. Subhash Goyal, Chairman, ASSOCHAM Expert Committee on Tourism and Civil Aviation:
"These measures will not only make air travel affordable for the middle class but will also lead to rapid growth in the domestic aviation sector thereby revitalizing the airline industry. We hope that the benefits accruing to the airlines on account of these major concessions would be passed on to the passengers leading to a cut in airfares by at least 20 per cent."

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India President, Mr Mahendra K. Sanghi,
"The adequate availa-bility of credit at the reduced rate of interest to the SMEs and the rural economy including the farming .sector will help generate employment, job op-portunities and entrepreneur-ship, which is the need of the hour." .

The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, President, Mr Ravi Wig
The Budget reaf-firms the feel good factor. Reduction in the stamp duty rates will help in reducing the transaction cost, thus adding to o1,1r competitiveness."

Mr M. Rafeeque Ahmed, President of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations
"The exporters were ex-pecting tax relief in view of the appreciation of the Indian ru-pee to partly offset their losses. Further, the demand of the community to abolish stamp .duty on foreign bills, which c;ould have reduced transaction cost and time, have also not been agreed to."

The Indo-American Cham-ber of Commerce, President, Mr V. Rangaraj
"The proposal to abolish tax on business process out-sourcing is a step in the right direction and will help many multinational companies especially from the US to set up centres for software develop-ment and IT enabled services in India. Further, corporate sec-tor was also unanimous in wel-coming the specific action on development financial institu-tions such as the IDBI and IFCI, which set at rest the industry's concerns on access to long-term funds."