What’s in Store?

Fire from the fundamentals ‘‘By and large, this budget will take the same direction (like budgets prepared by the previous governm...

Fire from the fundamentals

‘‘By and large, this budget will take the same direction (like budgets prepared by the previous government). We are, however, expecting emphasis on agriculture and rural economy, infrastructure, widening of the tax base and thrust on manufacturing industry.’’

— Sunil Kant Munjal, president, CII

Opening doors

‘‘We are expecting the new finance minister to merge the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). Pension fund managers will be regulated by IRDA.’’

— Vivek Khanna, director, marketing, Aviva Life Insurance.

No Fear

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‘‘Contrary to market fears, we believe that the budget will be pro-reform. Traditionally, Indian markets have not performed well post-budget. However, this time we expect markets to rally 8-10 per cent to 5200 levels.’’

— J Jaipuria & Rajeev Varma, Merrill Lynch

Export surplus

‘‘Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) units contribute around 85 per cent of India’s exports, and we are in favour of the benefits of Section 80-HHC to be continued till 2010.’’

— M Rafeeque Ahmed, president, FIEO

Farm fresh

‘Water management is key to the development of agriculture. Techniques such as drip irrigation should be given top priority. Farm equipment should be made available to the small farmers and excise duty on these products should be reduced.’’

— Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman, M&M

Rate rejig

‘‘I hope the government will not change the current taxation levels. Housing finance got a boost because of tax breaks last year.’’

— Kapil Wadhawan,MD, Dewan Housing Finance Corp

Defeating deficit

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‘‘The finance minister could announce the medium-term objective is to keep inflation down to an average of 4 per cent and the government and RBI could have an agreement on inflation as main objective with a few other priorities, but in a certain order.’’

— S S Tarapore, former RBI deputy governor

BPO boost

‘‘Tax exemptions to companies outsourcing back-office processing and call centre activities to India. Review withholding tax which covers cross border software payments. Customs duty on low-cost personal computers, and second-hand imports of computer peripherals should be waived.’’

— Kiran Karnik, president, Nasscom

Mop-up moves

‘‘The present 8 per cent service tax levy had raised the cost of various services to the disadvantage of the public. This should be reduced to 4 per cent.’’

— A Sakthivel, president, ICCI

Once an MP, rape-convict Prajwal Revanna is now a clerk at prison library

Cities7 hr ago

Former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former PM H D Deve Gowda, has been assigned clerical duties at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison after receiving a life sentence for rape. He earns Rs 520 per day and faces multiple charges stemming from four cases, with evidence including videos of the assaults recorded on his phone. He was found guilty in one case and still faces trial in the others.

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