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he has time for 5 years... to do a lot...
8 months... initial targets... nothing much.....
Yes. The steps to contain inflation of CPI was not at all made. Though the inflation rate is in the negative trend the consumer price index is spiralling like anything. Cost of Rice, Toordall gone up beyond the reach of comman man. Effective steps ought to be taken immediately. ...
If you allow me to boast, I can say- I told you so! Read my post of July 1, where I had said that the Finance Minister will use this budget to make a political statement. He will not use this occasion to please big business and investors, at least on the face of it.
It panned out exactly the way I had stated in my post. Let me go a step further and say that while the FM was not understood fully and the market overreacted.
Market is like an emotional, tantrum throwing pampered girlfriend. She is not happy if the FM is not willing to play a generous boyfriend who would bring heavens to her feet in the manner she wanted him to. She is very possessive too. She wants her boyfriend to convince his loyalty in so many words.
And Pranab Babu has refused to play that role. While he has made many right noises, he has not communicated them in a language that pleases the market. He with his experience in dealing with complex situation and conflicts, high hopes and crude realities, he stated, unlike his predecessors, everything in a no nonsense way.
In his own words, he has taken a calculated risk by trying to pump prime real economy, the rural India, in order to generate demand and push growth. It may be a Herculean task but no one would debate the need of creating as much cushion as possible to minimize the impact of global shocks. Does he have any other option if we all want our domestic growth story to get strengthened? It is a good beginning in our serious effort of decoupling - an often-used phrase.
If you do an objective review, you will find it is a budget that embarks upon the much needed agenda of tax reform and simplification. It leaves some money in the pockets of consumers, it makes a big promise to halve the number of poor, it helps farmers, and it also deals with most serious issues like education and girl child. It follows the basic principles of economics, rather than robin hood economics!
All he is saying is give me time and I will address the aspiration of all sections. Why are we then acting like restless child? Pranab Babu is a politician first. Allow him to do his primary job responsibly. The rest will follow.
Sanjay Pugalia, CNBC-Awaaz...
can you let me know about Cals refineries future
Vandana Sunil...
Fiscal deficit of 4% in 2012 is long away period. People will get beggars before that. I think next year itself Fiscal should be brought down to 3%....
Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Commissioner of the Planning Commision, defending the Union Budget said that investors should not judge the Budget by what was said in the speech as the high fiscal deficit this year is justified. He said that it is impossible for government to cut tax and reduce deficit at same time....
finmin had made good calculation and utilized limited funds very carefully. overall our expectations are high, but let one more fin.budget go through him, the results will prove it. ...
The high expectations from Budget 2009 was actually a hype built by the media, especially CNBC Channal spearheaded by Udyan. It is high time Udyan and Co understand that the general public rely on their words and that TV channels should report actuals and not speculate and build up unrealistic expectations that to in the sensitive financial markets. It is also high time the Government and SEBI step in to regulate these channels and anchors and tell them in no uncertain terms that they should report the Budget and not become Finance Ministers themselves. ...
6% is the best we can achieve and 3-4% being the worst...
yes definately yes....
Certainly deficit will grow by more than 7% & more....
Certainly deficit will grow by more than 7% & more....
7 percent grwoth not possible...
The panel of discussants I was associated with on CNN-IBN did not share the stock market’s disappointment with the Budget. Former economic adviser Shankar Acharya rated it “almost good”, Shubhashis Gangopadhayay, former adviser to former finance minister P Chidambaram found it “good”, former revenue secretary N K Singh agreed and the country head of ABN Amro Bank (now RBS) said it was “good and honest budget” because it did not hide the large fiscal deficit of 6.8 percent in off-Budget items.
The markets seem to dislike subtlety. They want it written in black and white in bold letters. They wanted the Finance Minister to set a large disinvestment target. They wanted him to clearly spell out the reforms that would be undertaken. They think this is a safe, status quo budget.
I disagree. Just because the Finance Minister has not shouted from the roof tops the reforms the government is going to undertake does not mean that those reforms will not be undertaken. It is not Pranab Mukherjee’s nature to be flamboyant. P Chidambaram needed to make a declaration just to keep faith in reforms alive at a time when he did not have the numbers in Parliament to deliver them. Pranab Mukherjee does not need to state the obvious. The President’s Address has set the agenda. It is a clear commitment to Parliament.
A smart politician would not like to bring all the opposing forces together by waving the red rag of controversial reforms. Look at the opposition that HRD minister Kapil Sibal ran into when he announced a one-nation-one-school-board! The petrol and diesel price hike was done surgically. That is how you will see reforms done: without fuss, with purpose.
The Budget factors in disinvestment proceeds of Rs 1,120 cr from sale of equity in Rites, Cochin Shipyard, Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd , Manganese Core , RINL and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam. It does not mention National Hydro Power Corporation and Oil India for which all regulatory approvals have been obtained. In fact, the railway ministry under Lalu Yadav had written to the Disinvestment Department that it was not in favour of disvesting Rites. If Rites can be divested, why will Engineers India not be? If TCIL can be, why not BSNL. If Manganese Core can be offloaded, why not Coal India? Pranab Mukherjee has told Lok Sabha TV that he could not set a target. But, he said, he has laid down the philosophy, which is disinvestment in state enterprises up to 49 percent.
I am happy about the commitment to introduce Goods and Services Tax from April 2010. There is a lot of preparatory work needed, but as the PM said, it is better to set a stretch target than to be daunted by the difficulties. The new direct tax code should be implemented from April next year. There could be movement on reduction in fertiliser subsidies and de-regulation of oil prices. The Finance Minister has said that the tax structure would be simplified. He has abolished Fringe Benefit Tax, but that does not mean perquisites, including Esops, will escape the tax net. They will now be taxed in the hands of employees as perquisites. Surcharge on income tax has been abolished; corporate surcharge will be the next to go. Many of the items that were subject to 4 percent excise have now been moved into the 8 percent slab.
The immediate worry for industry was the slump in demand. That has been addressed by the substantial stimulus that has been given. Government spending has increased by 1.15 percent of GDP from the interim budget. It is two percent of GDP more than last year. Those worrying about the fiscal balance should take heart from the FRBM statement which says that the fiscal deficit will be cut to 5.5 percent of GDP in 2010-11 and to 4 percent in 2011-12.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee could have highlighted these items that are buried in the fine print. He could have talked up the market by making reform announcements. The Budget was good. The packaging was not.
Vivian Fernandes, Economic Policy Editor, CNBC-TV18...
The union budget is no harm for common man.... in the same time no benefits given to stock market investors.... market /corporates expected too much from FM.... he may satisfy the marekt in the next budget....
Pl note that our FM is an epxperiened politician,he can not bhave like a buerocrat.... did his best and may be doing more in future.... he has another four years` budget proposals.......
