With Budget 2018 over, markets will now consolidate and remain range-bound

Beyond a point, investors will get used to paying 10% as LTCG. Logically, the finance minister should have made Securities Transaction tax (STT) as a cost

This was the last full budget ahead of the general elections scheduled for 2019. We all expected this to be an ‘election budget’. The general focus of Budget 2018 has been on the rural sector and not much concessions for the middle class or the corporate sectors. The proposals are mostly in line with expectations. The good thing about these proposals is that once implemented, they can lead to job creation and a pick-up in the economy. The other key positive is the focus on infrastructure where the outlay has been increased by 20 per cent.