Thaindian News

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the Union Budget in the Parliament today amidst huge expectations. As expected it has turned out to be a pro-people budget with its primary focus on the “Aam admi” or the common man.

Emphasis has also been put on the infrastructure front which is expected to augment economic growth with a positive ripple effect across various sectors. Political experts are saying that the budget has been on expected lines as the Congress party and the UPA government have always maintained that their main area of focus would always be the “Aam admi” or the common man.

This is evident from the fact that the Finance Minister has increased allocation for differnt ‘Social schemes’. With the urban poor in mind he has promised Rs.3937 crore for their development. The farm loan waiver scheme has been extended by another six months. In context of fertilizer subsidy a very important step was unveiled by the minister.

It has now become ‘nutrient based’ rather than being ‘price based’. Economist and analysts say that this is major positive step towards the rationalization of subsidies which incidentally is a significantly high amount. An equally significant step was also announced on the tax front; GST would be finally getting implemented from 1st April, 2010.

But the capital markets and major sections of the business community in the country have not reacted positively to the budget as they point out that they had expected much more from Pranab Mukherjee in terms of economic stimulus. Infact the SENSEX was down by more than 600 points at one time.

According to them the minister has disappointed them on the divestment front with announcements, which say that the government would be having the majority stake in state owned banks an insurance companies. But he has also made them happy by abolishing the FBT and the CTT on the tax front. Corporate tax rates have not been tampered with while on the income tax front their is good news for senior citizen and women with personal income tax exemption limit being raised by Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 10,000 respectively. This budget the minister said would create many new jobs, which he claims would be around 12 million.

Finally with the budget been announced now the focus shifts towards its proper implementation in terms of various schemes so that the economy returns back to its 8% to 9% level of growth.