There is no dearth of adjectives being used by people and experts to describe the Union Budget 2012 presented by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. While economic liberals were hoping that government would start clearing the tailback of delayed reforms, some were dismissive of any such things given the government's coalition compulsions. 

According to the Finance Minister, the fiscal deficit of the government is likely to be 5.9% of GDP for the year ended March 2012.  Apart from that the finance minster has budgeted a modest Rs 30,000 crore from disinvestment - lower than the previous year's Rs 40,000 crore, which was of course never achieved. 

One of the silver linings is the “in-principle” acceptance for moving towards Unified GST by standardizing the tax Rates across the spectrum of Services. This would replace country's service tax, as well as the value-added taxes levied by the central and state governments. 

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	It is a good move that GST Network is being set up and operationalized by August 2012. We hope this is a harbinger of good news inform of a speedy GST implementation. This will have long term implications for India Inc. Dr. Alok Bharadwaj.
	Over all, the Union Budget for 2012-2013 is quite a balanced one and is a step in the right direction. - Minakshi Batra, Director India, IDA Ireland
	The Hon’ble Finance Minister has demonstrated the “in-principle” acceptance for moving towards Unified GST by standardizing the tax Rates across the spectrum of Services - Ashutosh Prabhudesai, Controller & Director Finance, FUJITSU CONSULTING INDIA.
	It bodes well for new investors and also creates a wonderful picture in the health, education, NREGA etc. sectors. For the IT industry however, this is a moderately encouraging bill and has made few strides in the development of the sector- Jagdish Mahapatra, Managing Director- India and SAARC, McAfee.
	With Excise duty increase the required stimulus for growth has been curtailed and would be inflationary. This puts pressure on the already slow manufacturing sector. Initiatives to bring down subsidies from current 2.5% of GDP to 2% in 2012-13 and 1.75% in 2013-14 is welcoming- Sandeep Nair, the President and MD of Emerson Network Power.
	In the backdrop of challenges pervading the economy, we see that the Union Budget 2012 has announced economic and tax reforms to set the stage for sustained growth and development. As part of the 12th Five Year Plan, we welcome the government's move to outline policies that will generate domestic demand recovery - Sanjay Deshmukh, Area Vice President - India Subcontinent, Citrix Systems India Pvt Ltd.
	For the IT industry, I expected to see MAT exemption to SEZ units, which did not happen. On the positive side, I welcome the increased investment in education, health care and housing." - Rajdeep Endow, Managing Director, Sapient India.
	The increased outlays on education with an emphasis of skilling the youth are necessary steps to tap emerging opportunities in the areas of Information Technology such as cloud computing and Big Data. Additionally, overall social development and improving India's competitiveness in the areas of manufacturing, research and innovation augurs well for the overall inclusive growth of the economy- Rajesh Janey, President, EMC India & SAARC.
	MAIT welcomes the allocation of 1000 crores for National Skill Development Fund as that will help in bridging the gap in skills. Setting up a Credit Guarantee Fund to improve flow of institutional credit for skill development will also be a good move as it will help in acquiring specific skills by individuals- Sabyasachi Patra, Executive Director, MAIT.
	The budget has focused on resource mobilization through indirect taxes. My initial thought, at this point is that it could lead to inflationary pressures in the economy and work against growth in the manufacturing sector. Besides, the will to take hard policy decisions was missing and this may hurt business confidence just when it is needed the most.-Suresh Rao, Group CFO, Mindteck
	With the proposal to extend the weighted deduction of 200 per cent for R&D expenditure in an in-house facility for five more years, the Union Budget FY 2012-13 is a positive promotion of the long-term importance of science, technology, research and innovation in India.- Sridhar Sarathy, Vice President -India operations, Juniper Networks.
	While the fact that Corporate tax not being tinkered with is probably the only source of joy for private industry in general, the Finance Minister has been consistent with his social inclusion agenda with the rise in allocations for several key schemes including rural sanitation, water and education. Overall a conservative and cautious budget focusing on fiscal consolidation- Anil Valluri,President - NetApp India Marketing & Services Private Limited.
	The benefits announced for key sectors like infrastructure, agriculture and education are bound to improve the overall economic scenario. The rise in excise duty may lead to an increase in prices of consumer electronics products -Mahesh Krishnan, VP-Home Appliances, Samsung India
	Given the economic and political circumstances, the FM has presented a pragmatic budget with doses of good intentions for long-term growth but lacked short term punch to get growth going. For the IT industry, the request to exempt SEZ income from MAT has not been granted and this is disappointing. - N. Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD, Tata Consultancy Services
	ISA broadly welcomes the budget with its thrust on accelerating overall GDP growth from 6.9% to 7.6%. We welcome the thrust given to areas like infrastructure development, skill development, encouragement of R&D, and the focus on helping SME's - PVG Menon, President, India Semiconductor Association (ISA)
	Looking at the current global uncertain economic environment, the budget looks like a very pragmatic and realistic on-  V Balakrishnan, Chief Financial Officer, Infosys Limited.
	Union budget is very inclusive and I am happy to see increase in various social sector schemes. -Chetan Tamboli, CMD, Steelcast Ltd.
	Overall, it is heartening to see that the budget addresses some key areas like education, healthcare and infrastructure which are critical to national growth & development - . Naresh Wadhwa, President and Country Manager, Cisco India & SAARC
	It can be said that the Budget is well balanced and focuses more on long-term growth aspects instead of short-term populous measures, can be termed as positive and growth oriented -Sunil Dutt, Managing Director, Research In Motion India
	Overall it was a prudent budget moving away from populism to fiscal discipline. Aug’2012 timelines for GST is welcome. Much awaited DTC rollout further delayed leaving the confusion to continue.- S Sriram, CEO at iValue InfoSolutions Pvt Ltd.
	The announcement of intent on implementation of GST is a matter of great hope for the IT industry since it will bring down overall cost of goods and services in the country- Mohit Anand, MD, Belkin India Sub-continent.
	There is nothing to cheer for small & medium sized companies. Neither there is any consideration on Tax Exemption on software exports nor there is any change in the Corporate Income tax - Sunil Chandna, CEO, Stellar Data Recovery.
	The Budget 2012 comes across as a neutral budget to most. However from a Consumer and Small Business perspective, there is a lot that is left to be desired - Rohit Chaudhary,Co-Founder & CEO, eTechies
	By taking progressive policy measures the Finance Minister has been able to put forth a proposal which will definitely take the country on a path of progression- Pradeep Jain, MD, Karbonn Mobiles
	The Union Budget 2012-13 throws up a mixed bag for the real estate sector. The Government’s initiative to make affordable housing available to a larger section of the society has only been met partially- Brotin Banerjee, MD & CEO, Tata Housing.
	Although not been as per the expectations, the 2012-13 Union Budget seems to bring some good news for the power & infrastructure sector. This will directly or indirectly benefit almost all the industries. - Devanshu Gandhi_MD, Vadilal Industries Ltd.
	Service tax exemption for school education while along expected lines is a decidedly welcome step also”. - Shantanu Prakash, CMD, Educomp Solutions Ltd.
	Announcement of investments in the agricultural & infrastructure space are very encouraging from the point of view of private entrepreneurs and corporate houses taking up ambitious projects under the PPP model. - Amol Sheth – MD, Anil Ltd.
	After looking at this year's budget, I'm quite pleased to see that both these issues have been recognized and addressed by the Hon'ble Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. His two statements - Rajesh Nagpal, MD, Service Uncle, Austrlalia
	Government's allocation of Rs. 1000 crores for National Skill Development Fund is along expected lines, but heartening all the same since this will allow for a swift roll out of vocational education to our youth across the country, including those in Tier II and Tier III cities, where it is sorely needed- Sharad Talwar, CEO, Indiacan (Educomp- Pearson JV).
	There is nothing exciting or new in the budget for IT enabled Industry. Increase of 2 % in service tax and Excise duty is bound to affect MSME industry adversely. This will put further pressure on already sluggish Auto and manufacturing segment and in turn will affect their MSME suppliers adversely.- Vikas Khanvelkar, Managing Director, DesignTech Systems Ltd.

	"I think  there seems to have been little scope for any tax rollbacks, be it Increase in service tax, MAT or otherwise. On the contrary, proposals for taxing software as royalty would go, to increase the tax kitty of the government - Nitin Walia, Director, Data Infosys Limited
	To conclude, overall, it is a neutral to positive budget. Not a great Budget, but not a bad Budget either. Govind Rammurthy, MD & CEO, eScan

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Deepak Singh
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