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Surfers' comments
The threshold limits on tax need to be increased and tax rates should be spread across more slabs so as not to hurt the salaried class. - Jayaraman

The I-T exemption for men should be Rs 1.8 lakh. Rs 1.5 lakh is peanuts. - Naveen Kumar
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Expert comments
Gaurav Taneja,
Partner & National Tax Director says the Finance Minister has stressed on buoyancy in tax collections and on attaining a Tax—GDP ratio of 12.5%.
Motilal Oswal, Chairman and Managing Director of Motilal Oswal Financial Services says the Finance Minister was uniquely positioned to present a landmark Budget.
Srinivasa Rao, Partner & India International Tax Leader, Ernst & Young is of the opinion that Union Budget has lived up to the populist trend.
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Union Budget 2008-09  »   Story
How do you rate Lalu's Rail Budget?
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Railway budget is really a people's budget this time. I believe let's break the overall budget into many sectors and make each sector profitable.

— Kumaresan Ramanathan from Chennai
(kumaresan.ramanathaan@gmail.com)

Hats off to Laluji, the person who takes care of the common people.

— Anurag Pachar from Gandhinagar
(anuaquarius@gmail.com)

The budget meets all expectations.

— Kanwar Pal
(kp_351@yahoo.com)

Outstanding achievement by Laluji.

— Arul Joseph from Chennai
(arujms@gmail.com)

Give free tickets for all the students till they complete graduation. People must stop eating tobacco, and spitting in the coach bathrooms. There should be dustbins available in the coaches of all trains. Those not adhering to cleanliness should be fined Rs 50 for each offence.

— Ramkumar
(meramkumar@gmail.com)

I want the following things in my wish-list:

1. Passenger amenities and security should be of topmost priority.

2. Malpractices such as unathorised collection of fares, allotment of berths to the wait-listed passengers, etc. should be stopped.

3. Stations should be kept neat and clean and free from intruders.

— Vikash Lal from Indore
(lalvikash@sbindore.co.in)

The concession of free-season tickets should be extended to male students as well upto the graduation level, initially for the SC/ST/OBC students and then for all students from next year onwards.

This is really an excellent railway budget, the best that Laluji has presented so far.

— P Kanniyappan
(pkanniyappan@yahoo.com)

Sector Analysis
AUTO
Negotiating a rough patch
Demand growth is expected to be buoyant driven by new vehicle launches, likely softening of interest rates and continued growth on the export front.
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Railway Budget
Lalu presents people's budget, slashes fares
The minister announced launch of several new trains and reduction in fares across all classes amid chaos by Opposition in Parliament.
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Features
A budget for Bharat
Buoyant tax revenues a lower fiscal deficit and an economy that's in top gear permit the FM to pump big money into agriculture and the social sector. Those efforts might help at the hustings, too.
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Economic Survey
'Expand telecom infrastructure, R&D'
"With rapid growth of telecom network, there is a need to further expand the infrastructure and research and development," the survey said.
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Surfers' comments
This is a very good budget, especially for agriculture and education. P Chidambaram is the best.
- By Saravanan P (plsharavanan@rediffmail.com)
If you can waive Rs 50,000 crore for farmers what about the tax on housing loan interest? That should also have been reduced.
- Chandra Shekar V (rilshekar@yahoo.co.in)
Please tax the street hawkers and give relief to the salaried persons.
- Rajaram (rajaramghurup@rediffmail.com)
This is the worst budget the finance minister has ever presented. The backbone of the country's economy is the transport but he completely missed it out.
- Jayakaanthan A (jayakaanthan@gmail.com)
The budget is sure to augment growth and will also lessen the volatility of the stock markets.
- Sidharth Paul (sidharth.paul@gmail.com)
Overall, the budget is satisfactory but the health sector should have been given greater importance.
- Ankit Chaudhary (chaudharyankit1987@gmail.com)
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Business Today's Budget edition
Editorial: Predictably populist budget
Special: Something for everyone...
Column: All for the common man
Exclusive interview with the FM
Maintaining the growth story
The Finance Minister defends Budget 2008 and the Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver doled out to farmers in an exclusive interview to Business Today's Sanjoy Narayan and R Sridharan.
VOX CEOs
"Total reduction of excise duties by 2% will give a welcome boost to the manufacturing sector. Also, the exemption of specified parts of set-top boxes from customs duties is commendable".
- Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises
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Beginner’s guide to budget
Union Budget is an estimate of the Government of India's revenue and expenditure for the end of a particular fiscal year, which usually runs from April 1 to March 31. Read on...
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