Budget's biggest achievement is it made CPI speak for corporates: Prof Vaidyanathan

New Delhi, Feb 29: The Union Budget of 2016 has been hailed as farmer friendly and the experts say that it was about time that the agricultural sector had to be addressed. R Vadiyanathan, professor of finance at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore discusses with OneIndia the budget that was presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today.

Prof Vaidyanathan points out in lighter vein that the biggest achievement of this budget is that it has made Communist Party India leader say that the corporate sector has not been given anything. Raja while reacting to the budget said, " "Outside the budget, they promised a lot to the corporate sector. Not evident now. Nothing spectacular in the budget."

First and foremost for me this is Narendra Modi's budget. It does not look like an Arun Jaitley budget to me. He would have focused more on the share market. This is very evident that it is a Modi budget, Prof Vaidyanathan also points out.

Over all it is a good balancing act. The focus is on the social and agricultural sector. This even made the CPI leader say that there is nothing in it for the corporates. The budget has a long reaching effect and I am very confident that everything announced will be implemented.

I am particularly happy about the focus being on the agricultural sector. For a long time this sector has been neglected and it needed a re-look. This budget does exactly that. I know that there are many who say that the agricultural sector has been given importance keeping in mind the forthcoming elections in various states. Now which party does not also have an eye on the votes?

The focus on the irrigation is also extremely good. The focus on irrigation will irrigate at least one lakh hectares of land. Not all land in the country was covered under irrigation. This budget will address that problem, Prof Vaidyanathan also pointed out. This would change the picture to a large extent.

Prior to the budget there was talk that the corporate tax would come down. It has not been done and I think it is a good move. You cannot expect the corporate tax to be lower than the personal income tax.

If the corporate tax is lesser than the personal income tax then it would have looked extremely silly. It is good that the finance minister has not touched this part at all this time.

So has Modi passed his examination? Yes I think so. Over all I am very happy. Trust me given the kind of scenario, it could have worse. However he has passed the examination. I would give 6 out 10 marks.

OneIndia News