The Budget has highlighted the big opportunity for IT in the domestic market with the decision to allocate additional funds towards the state wide area networks, common service centers, data centers as well as smart cards for benefits management like PDS scheme at the state level and initiatives like the central plan monitoring system for outlays and outcome measurement for the Planning Commission. For domestic customized software market, there have been small changes with the sector being brought under the service tax net. This will increase the cost of technology for users and push up the cost of automation, not just in the private sector but also in public sector and government departments. Another factor that could push up costs for deploying technology is that customs duty for importing packaged software has been increased from 8% to 12%. This would increase the input cost across industries, not just the IT industry. The good news for IT and the people-intensive industries is the incentives to education with 20% more outlay. Announcement of three new IITs, IIScs and 6000 high caliber schools and shows commitment to quality education which augurs well for our supply chain and human capital. The Rs. 85 crore scholarship scheme for students pursuing science education is good news for IT and especially for TCS, which has been tapping into the science streams through our own from science to software transformation program for students. The Rs 14,000 crore Rural Infrastructure Development Fund, emphasis on rural roads,etc, would strengthen the much needed tertiary backbone of the economy and create greater confidence in global business that looks forward to partnering India. It would also go a long way in ensuring inclusive growth to spread the benefits of prosperity to wider sections of the society. What also bodes well for the export-oriented IT industry is the focus on the speed of the currency’s appreciation in the light of continuing foreign exchange inflows. The impact of capital inflows, has been identified as a key threat in the coming year and the FM has put in place various mechanisms including more than a two-fold increase in the market stabilization fund to help the RBI manage forex inflows in a calibrated manner.

Rating : Not Rated

In the short term, the reduction in excise duty will make small cars more attractive for customers and offset the negative impact of higher interest rates. This is an encouragement for companies like us, which are making major investments in capacity, research and exports. Overall, the Budget has some benefits for all sections of people while keeping the government’s finances healthy.

Rating : Not Rated

At a macro economy level, the general fiscal discipline evidenced in containing fiscal deficit and revenue deficit lends stability to the 'India growth story' and benefits all its constituents. At the sector level, the impetus given to the 'rural economy' is a positive development. By implementing some of the recommendations of the Rangarajan Committee report will ensure opening of more bank accounts in rural branches. The additional funds to SIDBI and NABARD will ensure additional fund flow into the sector. By increasing the corpus of rural Infrastructure Fund to Rs 14,000 crore, rural infrastructure will improve reducing our operational costs. The huge waiver of agricultural loans will improve money supply in rural pockets. The corpus to subsidise LIC cover for SHG-women with permanent disability is also welcome. The Budget has, however, not addressed the MFI sector's demands for withdrawal of service tax on all micro finance & micro insurance products and Dr.Rangarajan Panel recommendation for 40% exemption of the taxable profits of MFI-NBFCs. We reiterate the demands. The biggest benefit for companies like SKS Microfinance is the withdrawal of 'Banking Cash Transaction Tax'. This will greatly reduce 'transaction costs'. The budget also augments credit flow to companies like SKS which can access the additional funds allocated to SIDBI. The increase in agriculture credit target to Rs 2,80,000 cr will also encourage banks to leverage SKS' 'credit delivery skills' in the rural areas. This sort of Pooling of Resources (i.e. amalgam of the 'funding capability' of PSBs and the 'credit delivery skills' of SKS) results in optimal use of national resources. Following the huge waiver of agriculture loans, PSBs may also choose to reduce direct lending and use units like SKS to funnel down credit to ensure better recovery.

Rating : Not Rated

In the short term, reduction in excise duty will make small cars more attractive for customers and offset the negative impact of higher interest rates. This is an encouragement for companies like us, which are making major investments in capacity, research and exports. Overall, the Budget has some benefits for all sections of people while keeping the government’s finances healthy.

Rating : Not Rated

As a citizen of the country, I see many positives in the Budget, particularly the continued focus on education and health. Direct and indirect interventions in the agricultural sector are also promising. But on core manufacturing sector, there does not seem to be any significant direct thrust in the budgetory provisions or taxation proposals, although the need to excite this sector has been recognised. However, as a member of the cement industry, I may add that a product of mass consumption which is already among the most highly taxed, has received some more indirect tax loading by way of hike in CENVAT rates for clinker and bulk cement. On the whole, our view is that the Budget will help to promote demand in general, and therefore we shall look at it as progressive.

Rating : Not Rated

I like the budget for its focus on reducing personal income tax and for reducing excise duties (on cars, etc). Bringing the fiscal deficit down is also very welcome. The budget should reduce inflation. I welcome the increase in short term capital gains tax - while it is an unpopular move and the market has reacted negatively to it, it is useful for small investors because it would reduce the volatility of the market and incentivize investing for the long term. The budget should be good for banking sector as it might help in reducing interest rates, thanks to reduction in deficit and anti-inflationary measures. The budget has focused entirely on the end consumer. It benefits businesses only to the extent that sectors where there are excise duty cuts - volumes should go up. What is completely lacking in the budget is any measure towards increasing our export competitiveness especially in light of the rising rupee and looming recession in the US and a slowdown in Europe.

Rating : 6 / 10

Higher outlays for Bharat Nirman, irrigation projects, mega power projects, rural housing, etc, will help in infrastructure development. Together with excise duty cut for auto sector, it will spur demand for steel. Reduction in CENVAT from 16% to 14% will also help in containing the cost of steel, especially for construction purposes. Customs duty reduction on project imports will have a favourable impact on capital costs, at a time when the steel industry is undergoing massive expansion. We welcome the special initiatives and measures relating to skill development and higher education, which are critical from the point of view of long-term needs of the entire manufacturing sector.

Rating : Not Rated

Apart from the pessimism we’ve had about the loan waivers and other issues, I think I see two primary themes in the Budget. One is it’s going to spur consumption and at the same time it is also going to increase the disposable income in our hands, the salaried class people, and therefore, it will also spur savings. If you look at the horizon for 2008-09, the major worry that we had was that the interest rates were not coming down and whether that would be negative for spurring consumption. We now have a scenario that the sixth Pay commission should be finalizing its recommendations, so we will have a lot of disposable income in the hands of a largely urban population. At the same time, with the loan wavier, we also have far more affordability in the hands of the rural population. We now have a very broad based population profile, which is in a position to consume far more than what we could have done in the past. In fact, with these two steps being taken, now I quite understand as to why the interest rates have not been brought down in a hurry. This is because, if you have so much of money being placed in the hands of the population to spend, and on top of that, if you reduce interest rates, it could actually lead to a situation where the demand could far outstrip the supply of goods and services that we could make available. So I think for some time, the interest rates may not come down. But will that have a negative impact on consumption? I don’t think so because it will put more money in the hands of the people to spend. Secondly, the impact on savings. Depending on which income a slab you are in, the amount of money that you now have extra in your hands is substantially more. About Rs 55,000 per annum is a significant amount of money. The obvious flow of that money would be to the savings sector and there we would see a spur to savings also. I don’t think either consumption or savings is going to suffer because of this. In fact, both of them stand to benefit. So drilling down to that outlook on the FMCG and the other sectors, I would say that the outlook for these sectors continues to be positive.

Rating : Not Rated

The Finance Minister clearly spelt out that the focus for Budget 2008 in his own words “Doing more and doing better”. The focus, in our view, continues to be on greater good for equitable growth as well as inclusion and Mr Chidambaram has done a fine balancing act with a favorable bias towards the ‘aam aadmi’. The thrust area continues to be addressing concerns of farmers, boost scope for women welfare, health, education and Bharat Nirman. This would, to a large extent, make a definitive beginning in bridging the gap between the growing divide between the rich and the poor. On the other hand, with strong global inflationary headwinds and a possible global slowdown looming large, the FM has taken the right steps by reducing excise duties and initiated efforts to spur consumer demand. This would effectively raise consumer spending and as a multiplier effect positively boost a host of sectors.

Rating : Not Rated

I do believe that for the Technology sector and the Venture Industry there is nothing announced which will benefit both these industries. There was an expectation on the continuation of the tax benefits to the IT industry by removing the sunset clause at least for the smaller IT companies which has not been done; on software services there is service tax now which will be retrograde for the domestic IT spend ; for venture industry no announcements have been made. Disappointing overall for the IT and Venture industry On the positive side I see the personal taxation concessions as positive; increase in defense outlay good for the domestic industry ; benefits to farmers as positive; relief on manufactured goods like 2 wheelers and small cars are positive amongst others A comment on the increase in short term capital tax to 15 % I believe is positive as it was one of the lowest in the world ; it will have a short term negative impact on the stock market but encourage investors to stay for the long term and bring stability to the stock market.

Rating : Not Rated

Full credit to the Hon. Finance Minister in balancing various competing requirements and making some bold announcements that benefits the important sectors of education, health and agriculture. We welcome increased allocation to SSA & Education & expect this to have a positive result for us as Acer is the leading brand in this space. In the same context we welcome 1 lakh rural information centers, Allocations for SWAN & the state data centers. It is a pointer that Hon. FM appreciates the importance of deeper penetration of IT as a leveraging force for Economic development. We would have liked minor obstacles to have been put out of the way for deeper IT penetration. These are: 1. Continuation of 4% Special additional Duty, which in any case is to be refunded subject to some laborious documentation. 2. MRP related CVD payment has pushed up IT hardware cost by 4 to 7%. 3. Excise increase on operating system from 8% to 12%, that has been newly introduced. 4. Though some releif has been mentioned on cenvat & duties for some hardware items, at this time we are not clear what are these & we will have to wait till we are able to see the particular notifications. We wish there was relief in the budget to reduce IT hardware cost & make it more affordable

Rating : Not Rated

I would term the budget announcements to be along expected lines. On the one hand, our honorable Finance Minister has maintained the stated objective of the government towards Inclusive Growth; on the other hand, has presented a budget that boosts growth and is anti-inflationary while adhering to fiscal discipline. Providing incentives, health insurance and education facilities to the less privileged people of the country should be considered very pragmatic in a period where the revenue targets have been over achieved. Although the waiver of loans to farmers appears to be a populist step, it is probably necessary at a time when agricultural growth needs to be provided a boost. Providing incentives, health insurance and education facilities to the less privileged people of the country should be considered very pragmatic in a period where the revenue targets have been over achieved. Apart from continued focus on infrastructure spending, he has also tried to boost consumption through a combination of lower taxes for middle class and reduced excise duties on consumer goods. This would be positive for auto, banks and pharmaceuticals industries. More disposable income in the hands of the consumer will also spur growth of housing sector and resultant investment in construction industry. Rationalisation of Dividend Distribution taxes, lowering of excise duties, and no change in Direct taxes are positive for the Corporate sector. Increase in ST Capital Gain taxes will discourage speculative investments and, will not impact investment flows in the medium term. This would encourage investments into Equity Mutual Funds by retail investors. Finally, the announcements regarding introduction of Exchange traded debt and currency markets, credit futures will enhance the Debt market. This will deepen the debt markets and boost the Infrastructure growth of the country. I would also expect greater role for Debt Mutual fund Managers with the introduction of more innovative products. However it must be noted that the two large items on expenditures; namely provision for farmer loan waiver and the anticipated provision for hike in salary along pay commission recommendations have not formed part of the Budgetary expenditure. We shall have to wait and get more clarity on these two provisions.

Rating : Not Rated

This is a mixed budget. FM has not touched upon the corporate tax, which we were anticipating. The focus is clearly on agriculture, education, health and child development sectors. The rise in education spending and increase in health spending is a welcome move to spread the benefits of an economic boom beyond the cities to rural population. Clearly, the focus is on inflation, social sectors and consumer. The government is taking steps towards making a consumer-driven economy. The reduction on excise duty and increase in income tax slabs will leave more money for people at large and this will ultimately lead to increase in consumption. Although there is a little disappointment for not meeting the concerns on iron ore conservation. The taxes imposed on chrome ore export are also a long-pending demand, which is a welcome step. The proposal to reduce the general CENVAT rate on all goods is a positive step towards giving boost to the manufacturing sector that showed a decline in the last quarter. The FM has taken a positive step by giving a debt waiver and relief to the farmers. The step towards setting up a coal regulator is also in a positive direction. The creation of a national fund for transmission and distribution reforms in the power sector is appreciable. Not to mention that it is a very noble gesture for the government to have proposed to establish a permanent institutional mechanism for developmental and coordination role for climate change. Overall it is a progressive, inclusive budget.

Rating : Not Rated

It is a great Budget if you are a farmer. For the corporate sector, other than excise duties cuts, which are positive because it is anti-inflationary, and the holding company dividend tax structure is being done away with. There is not too much in the Budget from the corporate sector perspective. From an investor’s perspective, I don’t see the Budget having too much long-term stimulus. For example, the absolute lack of the word infrastructure, which could cause a stimulus to the entire economy are found missing. Yes, this is an election year, and hence one expected largesse to the farmers. But who will bear these Rs 60,000 crore? Is it going to be the banks, is it going to come out of Budgetary allocations, there is a huge silence on that. Some of those are not positive, if you look at it overall. But on the balance, the only positive side for the corporate sector was the holding tax dividend structure, the fact that excise duties being cut in certain sectors where provided for. It is a mixed bag. So, I’d say from an investor perspective, this short-term momentum will come and go away, and we will have to look for global cues back again. There is nothing much for the investor in this Budget.

Rating : Not Rated

The budget will have positive impact on the real estate industry. The construction costs are expected to come down due to duty and CENVAT reduction. The housing sector will take a boost due to the increase in income tax exemption limit to Rs 1.5 lakh and new tax slabs as it will increase the affordability of EMI's pertaining to new & existing housing loans. The Real Estate sector will also benefit from the amendment relating to dividend distribution from subsidiary to a parent company as this is prevalent in the real estate sector. IT SEZs will benefit due to non extension of tax exemption currently available to Software Technology Parks (STPIs) as the new investment in IT sector will now come to IT-SEZs.

Rating : Not Rated