‘This is a significant move towards sustainable growth’

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: The Budget can be best consolidated in one word - sustainable growth. Expectations were riding high; disinvestment was the panacea for deliverance and market reforms. It provides significant direction towards "inclusive growth", addressing bottlenecks that impede investment and focusing on infrastructure and the farm and rural sector as growth accelerators for crystallising 4% agriculture and 9% industry growth.

The key theme is clearly ‘growth’. By increasing the fiscal deficit target to 6.8% for FY10 and subsidy outlay by 10% over the interim budget, the government has sent out a strong signal that it will spend. By increasing the allocation on the government’s programmes like Bharat Nirman by 45% and NREGA by Rs 39,100 crore, the government has underscored its commitment and by increasing farm credit flow to Rs 3,25,000 crore and infrastructure allocation accelerated irrigation expenditure, the government has signaled its willingness to step up and step in. By scrapping the FBT and the CTT, the FM has clearly defined administrative simplicity as the way forward.