At a macro level, I am very happy with this year's budget. People are pleased and extremely satisfied. India is at a stage where it has no alternative but to maintain high growth. The Finance Minister has tried to address three broad issues in our economy so as to achieve long-term sustainable high growth. This year's budget has stimulated demand generation by reduction in individual tax slab which will lead to more disposable income. This is a very timely initiative as with the consumer's spending capability going up the economy will be able to recover faster. Investments in infrastructure which have been introduced are required for capacity building. I particularly like rural and urban infrastructure development which is the key to high growth. India is beginning to look forward and to some extent lead the developing economy. Focus on road development is like music to my ears. The Finance Minister has also tried to put the right focus on green energy, solar energy. I am particularly happy with the speed of implementation. Indians should now become impatient. All in all, it is a very forward looking budget.

He added saying, For the IT industry, the best news has been special additional duties- where companies were first paying and then claiming- the process is now scrapped. In the packaged software area, earlier we used to have double taxation, now only a one time tax will be charged which is a welcome move. Surcharge has been reduced from for 10 pc to 7.5 pc which means rate of direct tax will come down and this will give companies resilience to absorb some of the not so good aspects of the budget. This includes Countervailing duties and fuel prices which have been increased, thus, forcing freight cost to surge but the drop in surcharge will give companies some cushion without passing on the burden to consumers.

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