Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday presented the Union Budget for 2004-05 in the Lok Sabha. The India Inc generally welcomed the Budget proposals. The following are some of the reactions to the Budget.

Dr Amit Mitra, secretary general, FICCI:

My reaction is very simple: the Budget has followed the common minimum programme very carefully. It is market oriented, positive looking and investment-oriented. This is a Budget in the short run and we are now hoping that the finance minister would present a dream Budget next year.

Yogendra K Modi, president, FICCI:
 
The finance minister's announcements pertaining to the health and infrastructure sectors are steps in the right direction. The exemption of duties on tractors and dairy machines will obviously benefit the farmers.

Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, RPG:

I am very happy with the Budget. It is a development-oriented one. Caps on foreign investment in the civil aviation, telecom have been removed and it will give a boost to these areas. The only disappointment I have is that I would have expected at least a directional statement on labour. The last time I gave the Jaswant Singh Budget 10 out of 10. I will give Chidamabaram 9.5 out of 10.

Sunil Bharti, chairman, Bharti Telecom:

This is a path-breaking Budget. It is an extremely well thought out Budget and it goes deep into the rural areas and touches the lives of most citizens. The increase in the foreign investment allowed in the current Budget will give a major boost to the telecom sector. Telecom is a highly capital intensive sector and by removing the cap on investment, the finance minister has removed a major hurdle in the expansion of the Indian telecom companies.

Ajay Bagga, CEO, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company

From a macro-economic perspective, it's a positive budget, which will be viewed as growth-oriented, fiscally responsible and a continuation of the reforms process. The focus is on rural growth, infrastructure, healthcare, education, employment generation, FDI in key sectors and facilitation of FII inflows. The finance minister has done a fine balancing act by increasing Plan capital expenditure, targeted subsidies, financial support to states and rural credit, while holding the revenue deficit at 2.5% of GDP and fiscal deficit at 4.4% of GDP.

Geetanjali Kirloskar, Executive committee member, FICCI,

As a part of the Kirloskar group I am happy with the Budget because it gives emphasis on agriculture and farm sector. I would have preferred to see the finance minister to do a bit more for the industry particularly in the manufacturing sector.

Stuart Purdy, Managing Director, Aviva Life Insurance Company India Pvt. Ltd

The increase in the FDI limit by the government is a welcome move. With the increase in the equity limit, many more foreign insurers would be interested in entering the market, resulting in further expansion of the life insurance market along with offering a wider choice of products and services to the customer.

Mallika Srinivasan, director, TAFE Ltd

I am happy because of the thrust the Budget has given on agriculture. We were definitely expecting a Budget with stress on agriculture and rural sector because the mandate of the people showed the rural sector needed attention. What impressed me was the budget allocation to water development, and most importantly, the decision to double the quantum of credit in three years' time. Overall, I would call this Budget an agriculture-focused one, and I would give 7 out of 10 marks to it.

Habil Khorakiwala, chairman, Wockhardt

P Chidambaram has done a fine balancing act by addressing the concerns of the Left and continuing with liberalisation and reforms. However, we are disappointed that there is nothing in this budget to promote R&D in the pharmaceutical sector. Rating:  8 out of 10.