NRIs, economists say Indian Budget is a miracle

SINGAPORE: Billing the Indian Budget as a "miracle", eminent non-resident Indians and leading economists at a high-powered NRI summit here on Saturday complimented the Manmohan Singh government for introducing new taxes, continuing reforms and promising a fair growth in GDP as well as fiscal prudence.

Describing the Budget as economically sound, Bhaskar Ghose, Managing Director and CEO, Indusind Bank, told the summit that the banking industry as well as the common man would benefit a great deal with new proposals framed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

Addressing a session on implications of the Budget, Ghose said there was no change in the small savings interest rate and the benchmark ten-year bond yield will probably remain range-bound at least in near term.

The Budget, he said, showed commitment for a stable interest rate regime with strong emphasis on market driven interest structure.

He said amendments envisaged by the budget in Securitisation Act should expedite the process of recovery even as it addresses Supreme Court''s concern regarding a fair deal to borrowers.

Prasenjit K Basu, Managing Director, Robust Economic Analysis, hailed the budget as a miracle and said India had made progress in fiscal reforms. He said tariff reduction, financial sector liberalisation and industrial delicencing would contribute to more efficient capital allocation.