The primary focus of the Budget is on rural India. With regards to the life insurance sector, applicability of service tax on Fund Management charges for ULIP Fund needs more analysis to ensure that only relevant portion is taxed, unless this leads to life cover becoming disproportionately expensive or it leads to slowing down of growth in the industry. Proposals with regards to reverse mortgage and health sector are welcome.

Rating : Not Rated

With a 5-year tax holiday for hospitals, the private sector will have a strong incentive to invest in the healthcare provider space, particularly in terms of higher hospital capacity in the country. The new tax exemption on premium paid for medical insurance of parents to the tune of Rs15,000 p.a. will provide a further boost to health insurance penetration in the country. These significant initiatives in the healthcare space should ensure a stronger healthcare system in the country. The cornerstone of India’s success as a knowledge economy has been a significant base of educated population. The government’s thrust in this regard with higher allocations for both greater capacities as well as improving quality of education is a big positive for the long-term robustness of the services industry. Inflation is one of the biggest risks to growth and hence, inflation management is a key concern for policy-makers. The government’s decision to broadly maintain stability in indirect tax policies, with minimal changes essentially to address cost push inflation, is laudable. At the same time, the minister has also attempted to tackle the demand side by increasing the limits of income tax exemption. More money in the hands of the consumer along with stable prices clearly augurs well for the growth of the economy. In spite of the considerable investments planned, Finance Minister has been able to achieve the objective of maintaining overall fiscal discipline with fiscal deficit targeted at 2.5% of GDP for the coming year. Although, this may be slightly tough to maintain, the intention is certainly commendable. Overall, the Union Budget 2008-09 was a ‘no surprise’ Budget, which is what a Budget should be.

Rating : Not Rated

At a macro level, it is a positive and a well-balanced Budget for the common man. The focus on education and healthcare is appreciable. With the FM confident of maintaining growth rate above 8%, it would further augment the current positive sentiment about India. This Budget is a bid to stimulate growth and provide a demand side stimulus to the economy. But the key to the success now would be the timely implementation of all the measures announced.

Rating : Not Rated

Union Budget this year is largely neutral from equity market point of view. The direction of the market, however, is largely going to be guided by global cues. The Union Budget, in our view, tried to achieve a balance between the objectives of control of inflation and maintaining growth in the economy. This Budget also pencils the intentions of the government regarding the forthcoming general election. The key thrust areas of investment are agriculture, irrigation, and education which are medium to long-term positive for sustaining economic growth of 8%. We find the government's emphasis on agriculture sector and the loan waiver schemes is designed to address needs of large segment of agri-based community and common populace (read aam admi). On the negative side, the lack of any economic reforms, lack of initiatives in infrastructure segment, barring expression of intention for 5 further Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) have come as major disappointment. There is a fierce debate on the issue of debt waiver/debt relief schemes announced for marginal and small farmers. Including this waiver and one time settlement schemes of other farmers, the total waiver is Rs 60,000 crores (Rs 50,000 crores + Rs 10,000 crores). Based on the interaction with the PSU Bank's management it is expected that the government will make budgetary provision to enable banks waive-off the outstanding amounts. However, post budget, the FM has mentioned a lack of budgetary provision for this populist move, which could expand fiscal deficit to GDP ratio by 1%. The increase in personal income tax slab will save Rs 44,000 – 47,000 as income tax in the hands of the assessee based on their gender (for taxable income upto Rs.5 lakhs). This could spur personal consumption, as the disposable income will increase. There is no change in corporate tax and surcharge. However, the cascading effect of Dividend Distribution Tax from subsidiaries to parent companies has been removed by allowing an offset mechanism. That should help many large corporate as operating subsidiaries are going to be more tax efficient from dividend distribution point of view. The infrastructure companies will also benefit from this measure as it clarifies tax status of dividend distribution from SPVs to parent holding company. The measures that have come as a disappointment for the market are 1. Increase in short term capital gains tax from 10% earlier to 15%, and 2. Change of tax status of STT from set-off to income tax to income tax deductible expense item. While the first factor is overall negative for short-term investors that provide liquidity to market, the second factor is expected to impact the arbitrager's post-tax income. In general the budget has reduced excise duty on various classes of consumer goods, such as, autos, pharmaceuticals that should propel consumer demand and help ease the effect of inflation.

Rating : Not Rated

Adopting PAN as a uniform identification document in all financial markets will remove the unnecessary bother that different KYC identification documents created for constituents. However, it is essential that issuance and post-issue monitoring of PAN cards be strengthened to ensure identification of persons carrying multiple PANs.

Rating : Not Rated

The budget continues along the path that the previous budgets of the UPA government have set out on. It was the banking sector which led the pre-budget recovery. Once the source(s) of funds for the loan write-offs becomes clear, the impact on banking sector might not be so severe. The other proposals which may seem negative for the market at first glance - like the hike in short term capital gains - will be accepted without much ado by market players. A great positive is that the government is focusing more on tax compliance than increasing tax rates. Using PAN is an effective tool in this regard.

Rating : Not Rated

Union Budget this year is largely neutral from equity market point of view. The direction of the market, however, is largely going to be guided by global cues. The Union Budget, in our view, tried to achieve a balance between the objectives of control of inflation and maintaining growth in the economy. This Budget also pencils the intentions of the government regarding the forthcoming general election. The key thrust areas of investment are agriculture, irrigation, and education which are medium to long-term positive for sustaining economic growth of 8%. We find the government's emphasis on agriculture sector and the loan waiver schemes is designed to address needs of large segment of agri-based community and common populace (read aam admi). On the negative side, the lack of any economic reforms, lack of initiatives in infrastructure segment, barring expression of intention for 5 further Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) have come as major disappointment. There is a fierce debate on the issue of debt waiver/debt relief schemes announced for marginal and small farmers. Including this waiver and one time settlement schemes of other farmers, the total waiver is Rs 60,000 crores (Rs 50,000 crores+Rs 10,000 crores). Based on the interaction with the PSU Bank's management it is expected that the government will make budgetary provision to enable banks waive-off the outstanding amounts. However, post budget, the FM has mentioned a lack of budgetary provision for this populist move, which could expand fiscal deficit to gdp ratio by 1%. The increase in personal income tax slab will save Rs 44,000 – 47,000 as income tax in the hands of the assessee based on their gender (for taxable income upto Rs.5 lakhs). This could spur personal consumption, as the disposable income will increase. There is no change in corporate tax and surcharge. However, the cascading effect of Dividend Distribution Tax from subsidiaries to parent companies has been removed by allowing an offset mechanism. That should help many large corporate as operating subsidiaries are going to be more tax efficient from dividend distribution point of view. The infrastructure companies will also benefit from this measure as it clarifies tax status of dividend distribution from SPVs to parent holding company. The measures that have come as a disappointment for the market are 1. Increase in short term capital gains tax from 10% earlier to 15%, and 2. Change of tax status of STT from set-off to income tax to income tax deductible expense item. While the first factor is overall negative for short-term investors that provide liquidity to market, the second factor is expected to impact the arbitrager's post-tax income. In general the budget has reduced excise duty on various classes of consumer goods, such as, autos, pharmaceuticals that should propel consumer demand and help ease the effect of inflation.

Rating : Not Rated

The Government has delivered a progressive budget by focusing equally on infrastructure and rural development, education, healthcare and employment generation, with proposals to help create a climate for balanced growth. The vision to drive inclusiveness through technology gets a definite impetus with the proposals to set up 100,000 broadband-enabled common service centres in villages, connecting knowledge bodies and providing major universities with broadband services. Allocation of funds to accelerate power reforms and construction of roads will boost infrastructure development. The approval and fund allocation towards the state data centre scheme will help take the benefits of IT to the grassroot level. Encouraged by the 5-year tax holiday, I expect increased investments in non-urban areas in healthcare from both Indian and international players. The allocation towards Education is also encouraging. On the taxation front, the reduced tax burden will be a relief to individual tax players. It would have been a boon for Indian industry had the same been applied to corporate taxes. However the exemption of customs duty on specified parts of set top boxes and certain raw materials used in the IT/ electronic hardware, as well as reduction in excise duty on Wireless hardware cards and customs duty on convergence products are a welcome measure for the ICT industry.

Rating : Not Rated

It was a positive Budget except for the blip on short-term capital gains tax, which is what the market has reacted to. From the broader institutional perspective, especially as some of the foreign institutions look at it, they would be rather pleased with it. The expectation being built-up by the media was that since this is the last Budget before the elections, this could be a particularly populist Budget. It was probably less populist than what most people thought. Most of the things have been consistent, whether it is adherence to FRBM and consistency of tax rates. So, at a broad level, the Finance Minister seems to have managed to do a last Budget without being alarmingly populist. From an institutional perspective, that’s a positive in this market.

Rating : Not Rated

it is falling short of be a perfect Budget for auto industry because big cars were been left out. Big cars are the only manufacturing good that is being taxed at 24%. There is no other manufacturing good that is taxed at 24%. Maybe for future I will be happy.

Rating : Not Rated

The STT treatment is bad for brokers because earlier it was allowed as a rebate now it is a deduction. I don’t know how much it would be, but it would certainly have an impact. I would feel that on the whole, we are missing out on the general feel good aspect because if we see, on one hand the excise duty across the board has been reduced to 14%. This would mean goods becoming cheaper and the manufacturing sector getting a boost. But on the other hand, higher income has been put in the hands of people by increasing the basic exemption limit and generally by a variety of other factors. That would also give a boost to the manufacturing sector and generally for the overall economy. I would think that way.

Rating : Not Rated

I am fairly disappointed with this Budget in respect to infrastructure. This Budget was a political Budget meant for certain section of people. But private investment is needed. Infrastructure investments have long gestation periods. Therefore, we were expecting that they will allow ECB exemption from Rs 20 million and some special dividend for people who are investing in infrastructure. Service tax exemptions were expected for the urban area low-cost housing. But we need to privatize our airports and ports. There is no mention about so many other areas of infrastructure.

Rating : Not Rated

Due to the higher tax exemption slab, the common man will have more disposable income in his hands, which he can choose to consume or invest. This is a big positive. On the negative side there is an increase in the short term capital gains tax, but this will only impact the short term investors. But I don’t think this will impact investments in the equity mutual funds.

Rating : 8 / 10

The Finance Minister in his speech mentioned about moderating capital flows. You have a scenario where short-term capital gains tax was increased from 10 to 15%. I would read the fine print with lot of caution. I am a bit disappointed by the step taken to remove the banking transaction tax. FBT and banking transaction tax were introduced together. So, I was expecting some kind of a back door waver for FBT, by saying that people who are looking to pay higher surcharge may not follow FBT. There was a lot of lobbying being done on that. During a time when there is a concern about a lot of dark clouds looming in the markets, my concern is whether there was a need to increase short-term capital gain tax from 10-15% and tinker with STT. In this kind of a market, the global scene is not looking too good. Waving off loans is a big thing. It is usually a populistic thing that is going to benefit them in terms of votes. Tinkering with STT upsets the complete mood in the market. I would have frankly expected submission, in terms of allowing people to invest outside India. Now this is something that’s been hanging in there, they have increased limits from USD 25,000 right up to USD 200,000 dollars but on an operational level nothing has really moved. I hope either in the fine print or by way of some RBI policy, I hope that some measures are announced on that front that’s my take. I don’t think we can wish away the Budget come Monday that’s my view as far as this Budget is concerned.

Rating : Not Rated

I think the Budget is as expected, it turned out not that big an event. I was not expecting much of it and in case there is not much here except for that Rs 60,000 crore write off which they have announced and going through the papers, we could not figure out who is going to pay for it or has the Finance Minister provided for it, I think in the interviews it will definitely come out but on RBI side, the total gross NPAs on account of agriculture loans by schedule commercial bank is about Rs 10,000 crore.

Rating : Not Rated