Piyush Goyal invokes 'josh' in Budget speech, Mahindra & Goenka give a thumbs-up

NEW DELHI: Piyush Goyal had an attentive audience, in Parliament, and on Twitter as he presented the NDA government's Budget on Friday. As he tried to woo the farmers and the soldiers and the middle class, with a slew of sops, his 90-minute speech garnered a lot of positive reactions from people.

And among those who raved about Goyal - who was appointed Interim Finance Minister a fortnight ago following Arun Jaitley being indisposed - was Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra Group, and Harsh Goenka, Chairman of the RPG Group. Both had a word, rather tweet(s) of appreciation for what was Goyal's debut Budget speech.

In his first tweet, Mahindra appreciated the FM's 'josh', followed by another post on his reactions about the much-awaited Budget.



Amidst ‘election panic', the Mumbai-based businessman was concerned about a populist, profligate budget. He further expressed happiness that the reliefs to the key middle class & farmer segments were balanced without risking bankruptcy of the economy.


Gautam Adani, Chairman and founder of the Adani Group, lauded the budget, saying it 'infuses hopes for millions of dreams' by catering to middle class, small traders and farmers.


Goenka, the fifth generation entrepreneur of the RPG Group, also took to Twitter to share his views about this year's Budget. In his tweets, the 61-year-old tycoon said that the Confederation of Indian Industry, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, and businessmen will welcome this Budget as a boost to the economy.


The euphoria for the middle-class over the income-tax exemption for people earning up to Rs 5 lakh was short-lived, or so it seems. Lavanya Mohan, Head of Small Medium Business Initiatives at Mad Street Den which is a computer vision and artificial intelligence start-up, took to Twitter to clarify the catch that most had missed the minute detail of Rs 2.5 lakh slab.


Clarifying the same point, senior lawyer Anupam Gupta, who was the advocate of the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry on destruction of the Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992, live-tweeted the budget announcements. He also 'recklessly' called it a 'Dream Budget'in a now-deleted tweet.





Calling it a budget straight from the heart, Ashoke Pandit, co-producer of 'The Accidental Prime Minister', applauded the government's initiative of single window clearance for film shootings, and its commitment to fight piracy.







Padma Bhushan awardee, Vedic teacher and author Dr David Frawley also appreciated the Modi government for original thinking and innovative programmes in this year's budget.