'Jaitley did not try to stifle public spending'

Jaitley not stifling public spending: Debopam Chaudhuri, Vice-President- Research & Chief Economist, ZyFin Research

“A fair budget in our view. Indian governments have always been criticised of cutting down expenditure during the recovery phase, thereby prolonging the path to growth. Mr Jaitley however, did not try to stifle public spending and acknowledged a breach in fiscal deficit targets. However, he has ensured through various policies to limit leakages and spend on sectors with high multiplier effects on the economy. We need to first build an exchequer before seeking personal benefits in order to prevent future austerities.”

Budget reiterates government thrust on making India investment-friendly , says Dinesh Thakkar, Chairman & Managing Director, Angel Broking

"In my view, the FM had to tackle conflicting objectives such as higher share of government revenues going to the States as well as maintaining a tight fiscal deficit, while also increasing public investments to spur growth as private investments are still lagging behind. So, the deficit target has come in a tad higher at 3.9% vs 3.6% expected, but importantly, the additional spending is going towards medium-term growth enhancing areas such as infrastructure, education, skill development and sanitation. Secondly, this budget carries forward the government’s thrust on taking our economy towards global standards of governance by making it more investment-friendly, fairer and transparent, with its thrust on lower subsidies, better subsidy allocation through DBT and Jan Dhan Yojana, efforts to rein in black money, postponing GAAR and implementing a new bankruptcy law. In keeping with this theme, there is also increasing thrust on social security, with the increase in deductions for health insurance and pension. The surcharge of 2% on corporate tax is near-term negative for the markets, but is well-balanced with the medium term commitment to lower base corporate tax rate from 30% to 25%, simplifying the tax structure as well as sticking to the April 2016 deadline for GST."

Sanjay Chawla, Chief Investment Officer, Baroda Pioneer Mutual Fund: Boosting rural income is encouraging sign

“Budget does a fine balance between fiscal prudence and has number of levers to enable growth. Fiscal deficit of 3.9% was bit disappointing after fiscal prudence path that was spelt out last year. There are number of steps/projects announced to encourage investment in infrastructure/made in India. This augurs well to encourage and kick-start investment cycle. Providing a vision for long-term taxes - corporate taxes being reduced from 30% to 25%, GAAR being deferred and trying to boost rural income are very encouraging.”

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