Mr Pranab 's Budget 2012 was realistic

Well its march and everybody is busy corporates are busy updating their records as it is final quarter,students are busy with their board exams and this year nearly 5 states went for poll and poll results were out.Sachin (God of cricket) completed his 100th century nation was busy cheering him and most importantly the Budget came out .Finance minister Pranab babu came up with his budget.I would regard budget as a good budget.

Budget was realistic and India is moving towards more stable economy. The significant improvements was debt to GDP ratio was only 45% while comparing to China which is 90% and UK 70%.While market reacted negatively primarily because of increase of service tax going from 10% to 12 %.Lets look at gainers and loosers of Budget 2012

Gainers

1.Retailers may benefit after the finance minister assured to arrive at a consensus to open up the supermarket sector to foreign giants such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour, which would help in tie-ups and boost capital inflows.

2.Government-owned financial institutions will get capital infusion of $3 billion which is largely seen as insufficient to capitalise state-run banks such as State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda. Indian banks will also be under pressure to achieve the target of Rs 5.75 trillion for farm credit, where bad loans are relatively higher

3.Power utilities such as Tata Power, NTPC Ltd, Adani Power and Reliance Power are likely to benefit after the budget proposed a 2-year exemption on import duty for companies importing thermal coal. A proposal to allow external commercial borrowing to part finance rupee debt of power projects will also help

4.Low cost housing developers and financiers such as Sobha Developers, Housing Development Finance Corp and LIC Housing Finance will benefit after the budget proposed allowing external commercial borrowings for low-cost housing projects below Rs 2.5 million.

5.Carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and SpiceJet will benefit after the budget proposed to allow external commercial borrowings of up to $1bn to help meet immediate funding needs. The finance minister also said that a proposal to allow foreign direct investment by airlines is under "active consideration."

6.Infrastructure finance companies such as Infrastructure Development Finance Co, L&T Finance and Rural Electrification Corp will benefit after the budget proposed to double the issue of tax-free bonds for financing infrastructure projects to Rs 600 billion

7.Road developers such as IRB Infrastructure, Reliance Infrastructure and Hindustan Construction will see higher orders after the budget proposed to develop 8,800 kilometres of national highways under the National Highways Development Project in 2012/13.

8.Cigarette maker ITC Ltd is likely to benefit after the government raised excise duty on non-cigarette tobacco products making the market competitive. Excise hike on cigarettes was lower than expected.


Loosers
1.Oil explorers such as ONGC, Oil India and Cairn India will be hit after the budget proposed to raise cess on crude oil to Rs 4,500 per tonne from Rs 2,500 per tonne.

2.Gold loans providers such as Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance Ltd may see slower volume growth after basic customs duty on gold was doubled. Gold jewellery makers such as Gitanjali Gems and Titan Industries will also be hit due to high costs and as expensive jewellery will deter buyers hurting sales volume.

3.The budget was quiet on any reforms for Indian engineering exporters, which accounts for about one-fourth of the country's total merchandise exports. Companies such as Larsen & Toubro and Punj Lloyd, were expecting measures to boost local manufacturing. Instead, the budget proposed to raise excise duty to 12 percent from 10 percent.

4.The increase in excise duty, after the recent hike in the rail freight, would raise cement prices which is likely to hurt construction companies such as IVRCL Infra, Hindustan Construction (and can have adverse impact on the infrastructure.

5.The increase in the service tax rate to 12 percent from 10 percent will raise the cost of production for developers such as DLF, Oberoi Realty and Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd, who are already reeling under high input costs. This increased burden may be passed on to end users.


Source:Reuters