The Hindu Business Line : Leaving them cold

Mythili Chandrasekar, Vice-President, JWT: My first response to a budget is always as a middle-class housewife. Whatever happens to petrol prices, my monthly petrol expenditures anyway seem to go always only one way, and that's Up. And no cut ever shows up on an autorickshaw meter in Chennai.

For lazy cooks like me readymade food will be little less of a guilt trip!

Cooking oil is down, but no extra bajjis any way, thanks to new-age health instructions.

Who can argue with allocations for education, health, and women - one looks forward to mechanisms being put in place to administer this in ways that can show measurable results.

If scholarships lead to reduced drop-out rates, if more funds for self-help groups lead to more micro women entrepreneurs, if more IT exemption for women releases more for the home ... when education improves and women earn, significant and fundamental social change follows.

In fact as a brand planner, what I really like is some of the recrafting of value propositions in the Railways - the product-pricing-service-experience combinations are really interesting.

Sumita Vibhu, Patent & Trademark Attorney, Chennai : On the whole, this Budget does not seem to be geared to bring down the inflation likely in commodities in the near future. There is no clarity on that front.

At the outset, the Budget seems to be very friendly and is totally oriented towards growth, with the Finance Minister bringing down customs and excise duties on various fronts, the service tax, Cenvat and corporate tax rates largely remaining unchanged.

However, the increase in the levy of the dividend distribution tax and increase in education cess will have a negative impact on the corporate world.

The service tax proposal on commercial rentals too, I feel, will affect all commercial establishments and will lead to an overall increase on the cost of doing business in India.

Dr Achal Bhagat, Director, Saarthak, & Consultant Psychiatrist, Apollo Hospital, Delhi: Each Budget or any economic event in the country has three phases of response. The first is where each individual scans it for the impact on their life. The second phase links the Budget with the existing economic mood in the country and finds evidence to reinforce those thoughts and feelings. The last phase is of normalisation where everyday life takes over and continues in the same manner as before the Budget.

In that sense this Budget will also be a non-event. The disparity of the economic scenario in the country, where the trickle-down theories of the Reagan era still form the basis of budgetary planning, is unlikely to change with the Budget.

The Finance Minister laments that were growth fast enough, human development indicators would change. This, I think, is difficult to accept. Human development indicators change not through economic growth but through equitable access to resources and through accountable implementation of governmental programmes.

There is denial that the present economic scenario is inequitable and that the inequity is being continuously sustained. The reality is that the funds that are available are not released and those that are released do not affect the common man.

So the Budget remains inconsequential yet paradoxically the most determining event in Indian's life. The commonest thought of Indian citizens is likely to be "My life does not change, perhaps it does not matter to anyone that it does not change."

Nirupama V. G., Managing Director, Ad Astra Consultants: From a woman's perspective, outlay of women-specific programmes has been increased and tax net has been widened. Thrust on social security measures and sops for senior citizens on the tax net are also a welcome change.

While there is no major change to support the growth in the corporate sector, the initiatives for agriculture, water, infrastructure and research, fundamental to sustained growth, will contribute to a holistic growth in the long run.

As a consumer, although inflation is high, it is great news since instant mixes have got impetus. Overall, it's a `balanced' budget with a bias towards farmers and rightly so.

N. Nagaraj, Recruitment Consultant, Hyderabad: From a consultant's perspective it is a fairly average budget and does not address inflation. The IT relief is minimal and the average middle-class professional who was looking at a Rs 50,000-hike in the exemption limit has to be satisfied with a Rs 10,000-increase.

The education cess has gone up to 3 per cent which is an additional burden on us. Though duty on petrol and diesel have been cut from 8 per cent to 6 per cent, if the benefit is not passed on to customers by the oil companies inflationary trends will continue.