New Delhi: Stock market participants gave thumbs up to the Union Budget 2015, with some terming it as "dream budget", following promise of lower corporate taxes and deferral of GAAR.
"Overall it was a dream budget. Corporate taxes down, GAAR postponed, crackdown on illegal money, wealth tax abolished. Major takeaways from the budget 2015 were high stress on Make in India, rural development this will surly bring a surge in job creations," said Rohit Gadia, Founder & CEO, CapitalVia Global Research.
The market is expected to remain volatile as the Budget announced was at par with expectations of D-street and thus market has already discounted the noise going on in the market, he said. The Modi government's first full-year Budget turned out to be a volatile affair for stocks with the Sensex swinging 700 points, but promise of lower corporate taxes and deferral of GAAR helped the benchmark finally end 141.38 points up — the first rise on a Budget day in 4 years. Experts said that sentiments were lifted after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's announcement of cut in corporate tax by 5 per cent to 25 per cent over four years starting April 2016.
"Budget does a fine balance between fiscal prudence and has number of levers to enable growth. Fiscal deficit of 3.9 per cent was bit disappointing after fiscal prudence path that was spelt out last year. There are number of steps/projects announced to encourage investment in infrastructure/made in India. This augurs well to encourage and kick-start investment cycle," said Sanjay Chawla, Chief Investment Officer at Baroda Pioneer Mutual Fund.
"Providing a vision for long-term taxes- corporate taxes being reduced from 30% to 25%, GAAR being deferred and trying to boost rural income are very encouraging," he added. GAAR implementation has been deferred by 2 years to April 2017. "The union budget was presented in the backdrop of high expectations and stands tall on the key achievements targeted by the current government. It focuses on creating the building blocks for a new India — promoting Make in India, creating job opportunities, curbing black money and promoting ease of doing business in India," Rajiv Shastri, MD & CEO — Peerless Funds Management.
Indian stock markets, which are usually closed for trade on weekends, were open for trade today. According to Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio: "The current budget is a pretty balanced budget and is pro-growth with the focus clearly on the control of fiscal deficit, controlling leakage of subsidies, incentivizing foreign capital, boosting domestic savings, simplifying taxes. The government has fearlessly presented a budget that is not populist, but forward looking."
