Common man pins hope on Jaitley, expectations riding high

With Finance minister Arun Jaitley set to present the Annual Budget on Monday, the expectations of the common man in the nation are pinned on him, with a hope that the Budget will provides an impetus to nation's economy and reduce the inflation.

"We expect the Finance Minister to reduce the price of essential commodities. The prices of the subsidized cylinder have been going up; we expect Jaitley ji to put a check on it," Manju Singh, a housewife told ANI.

Expecting to get a relaxation on the taxation, Shivesh Kumar, a banker said "We expect to get relieved of the additional taxes which have been imposed on the common man. The prices of pulses have sky rocketed, I feel the Finance Minister should have some plans to curb rising prices."

"The rates of petrol have seen a slump but the inflation is still high, Jaitley ji should look into that and adding the service tax, it must be reduced. The slab of the income tax must be increased; the present structure is very narrow," he added.

Noting that the interests on the home loans are high, people expect Finance Minister to relieve the salaried employees.

"The housing loan interest must be reduced, because toady every common man aims for a house and look towards bank for the loans. He should also act on rising inflation so that it goes down," said Vijay, a businessman.

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister has a herculean task of balancing the needs of agriculture as well as the industry as the Modi-Government seeks to garner resources to boost public spending for higher growth amid global headwinds.

Rising rural distress because of back-to-back droughts has put considerable pressure on the Finance Minister to spend more on social schemes, while at the same time he has to win back foreign investors craving for faster reforms.