The Hindu Business Line : Good mix of fiscal measures

Overall the Budget is balanced and growth oriented. The Budget presentation has come at a time when the economy is in excellent shape and the Finance Minister's past budgets have already delivered a 9-plus per cent growth in GDP and over 12 per cent in manufacturing. His main challenge in this Budget was to continue his focus on rural and social sectors and, at the same time, address supply side constraints to control inflation. He appears to have handled this issue well through a mix of various fiscal measures.

On manufacturing account too, some of the measures announced in this Budget are indeed commendable. The decision to use forex reserves for financing infrastructure projects is a big fillip for the sector. Developing a mortgage guarantee mechanism and allowing individuals to invest in foreign markets through mutual funds are investor-friendly measures.

For the first time the Government has recognised the impending shortage of skilled manpower and the measures announced in this direction are appreciable.

His decision to reduce the CST to 3 per cent also deserves appreciation. The excise duty cut on petrol and diesel will give some respite to oil marketing companies, which have been continuously bearing the burden of high global crude oil prices.

The Government's emphasis on creating more generation capacities seeks to address the issue of power supply constraints. The reduction of Customs duty on seconds and defective steel is a step that will encourage dumping of low-quality steel from international markets into India.

We hope the Government will revisit this decision. The only area that needs attention is freeing up of iron ore reserves for private sector, for the development of existing and new steel plants.

The author is Managing Director, Essar Steel.