Pranab Mukherjee is like the kind of general that Napoleon wanted, a lucky man. He has come out smelling of roses because he has done the most important thing in the Budget, and fulfilled his promise made last July. He has reduced the fiscal deficit to 5.5 per cent of GDP&mdash;an announcement that immediately woke up the stock market from its stupor, at high noon on Budget day.

T N Ninan: Now for the hard part

Business Standard

The Union Budget 2010-11 was presented under favourable growth circumstances, notwithstanding the low growth figures just issued for the third quarter.&nbsp; The nominal GDP growth in 2009-10 is likely to be much higher when the provisional estimates are issued because a real growth of 7.2 per cent with inflation at present rates is just not consistent with nominal growth of only 10.6 per cent.&nbsp; The final deficit percentages for 2009-10 will, therefore, be a touch lower and those projected for next year will be lower, too.

Indira Rajaraman: An emerging coherence on fiscal discipline

The Finance Minister has presented a budget that appears to balance the need to consolidate without having to withdraw the stimulus provided in the last two years on the ground that the recovery is still fragile. No one can argue against this logic. Recent data flow has rudely reminded us that material economic and policy risks abound in the global economy. At the same time almost all demand indicators in India have turned hot and despite the deficient monsoon, FY2010 GDP growth will likely top 7 percent. And all this without India&rsquo;s biggest growth driver, corporate investment firing. If this happens, as one expects, FY2011 GDP growth could go well above 8 percent. This will inevitably stretch capacity and raise core inflation, which has already started to pick up.

Jehangir Aziz: Living on a prayer

The budget presented by the finance minister yesterday was notable in that there were no nasty surprises, and a grateful market responded (largely through short covering) by rising upwards of 1.25 percent. Market expectations were obviously muted, and the FM managed to satisfy these low expectations.

Akash Prakash: A Reasonable Effort

Invariably a Finance Minister trying to navigate between growth and fiscal restraint invites comparisons to a cricket shot that has to score a boundary, but remain between mid-on and mid-off. Not much firepower in those straight shots although they are less risky than hooks and pull shots. So an effective budget is workmanlike, refrains from announcing big bang reforms, but scores runs nevertheless. That&rsquo;s what this budget has done admirably.

Ajit Ranade: Batting above average

Budget 2010 was expected to be more than just an exercise in annual fiscal management and first indications are that the Finance Minister managed a delicate act in balancing fiscal consolidation and economic prudence. Supplementing the data released in the Annual Survey, the FM pegged the GDP growth for the current fiscal at 7.2 percent and laid an ambitious path for double digit growth. Revised estimates shows fiscal deficit for the current year at 6.9 percent; only a marginal deviation from the original Budget Estimates though disappointing third quarter growth of 6 percent. Other important indicators of macro-economic health were encouraging with tax-to-GDP ratio at 10.3 percent, despite huge fiscal stimuli throw-in over last eighteen months to keep the economy afloat (tax stimulus alone totaling to 3.5 percent of GDP).

Mukesh Butani: Some well-timed choices

In the brouhaha over the rise in petrol duty, what has been lost sight of is that this Budget has done no reform, introduced no move to facilitate GST for the next year, has given too many exemptions and withdrawn hardly a few, not simplified the tariff or any important procedure, and not brought in the comprehensive service tax.

Sukumar Mukhopadhyaya: In the same old style of the early 1980s

Exchanges between cricketers and journalists seem to follow a template, a boring one at that.

Don't mind your language

Thrust on the core sector can increase the valuation of engineering companies.

Zeroing in on infra

Why some artistes still prefer to release their albums on CDs and cassettes.

The Net worth of music

Let me turn to our neighbourhood. From India's perspective, the goal of ushering in a peaceful, stable and prosperous neighbourhood is predicated on enabling each of our neighbours to pursue the shared objective of the development of our peoples. We do not see this as a zero sum game but as a co-operative endeavour, requiring collaboration rather than confrontation, so as to enable each of our neighbours to grow.

Nirupama Rao: 'Our focus in Afghanistan is on development'

America&rsquo;s deep love affair with cars has homicidal undercurrents.

Outta my way, punk

The other day, I saw mangoes at a posh fruit shop in Khan Market, and I wondered why the sight of my favourite summer fruit didn&rsquo;t excite me a whit. It was not until I went to the Walled City on a foodie tour that I realised why. There is something so right about eating food that moves with the seasons, for flavours evoke so much more than merely one&rsquo;s taste buds. Conversely, eating summer foods or fruits in winter, or vice versa, is just not the same thing. Anyway, on this foodie tour of mine, I revisited an old favourite which I have always associated with the winter chill &mdash; the wonderfully subtle and subtly wonderful Daulat ki Chaat.

Geetanjali Krishna: The flavour of the season

A decade ago, this day, we were in Goa, having driven there all the way from Delhi in a small car that contained vast quantities of clothes that were shed the further south we moved, equal quantities of food for consumption en route (replaced by cases of cheap Goa booze on the return journey), two pre-teen children who scratched each other viciously all the way there and back, and a wife prone to motion-sickness whose only conversation consisted of serial moaning. And that&rsquo;s the good part. It was the last time we had a fun new year, even though in pictures every one of us is looking grouchy or hungry or green, and ever since things have gone downhill.

Kishore Singh: New year, same story

One:&nbsp;Indulge &mdash; Visit one of the world&rsquo;s top five restaurants, make a reservation well in advance, and treat yourself to some of the greatest food experiences. Great books, films and art lasts; great dining experiences, like great stage performances, are ephemeral. Spain has El Bulli, El Celler de Can Roca and Arzak; the UK has Fat Duck; France has Bras and Pierre Gagnaire, and the US has the French Laundry, Per Se and Alinea. There isn&rsquo;t, yet, an Indian restaurant in any of the reliable lists of the world&rsquo;s top 10 places to eat, but perhaps that will change.

Six suggestions for 2010

I began my working life by gathering information about potential freelance assignments during the year that I intended to be in Delhi before going to graduate school. I decided that I would make lists of publications, hunt down phone numbers, and pay my way through the year by writing.

You go, boss

I brought Duniya Sabki to the office to write this column, and the moment I took it out of the bag it went travelling.

Poems for the people

A few months ago, this column had mourned the lack of well-curated shows and drawn attention to a sense of fatigue in the air. Then came Lo Real Maravilloso &mdash; a large, ambitious show seeded by Magic Realism, &ldquo;produced&rdquo; by Gallery Espace and curated by Sunil Mehra.

Magical canvas

Narasimha Rao turned angrily on me for suggesting India was not doing anything for the Tibetans. &ldquo;What other country in the world&rdquo;, he expostulated, &ldquo;would have shown hospitality to the Dalai Lama?&rdquo; Reading how desperate London was to distance itself from Iran&rsquo;s fallen Shah, I can understand his irritation and take pride this new year in the underlying humanity of Indian foreign policy.

Sunanda K Datta-Ray: Fair-weather friendship

The big economic challenge of the past two decades was to improve efficiencies and achieve faster growth. Both goals have been achieved in substantial measure. Savings and investment rates have shot up, laying the ground for the GDP growth rate to accelerate from under 6 per cent to 8.4 per cent in the past seven years. The expectation now is that sustained 9 per cent annual growth is possible.

T N Ninan: Now fix the state

Ten years ago, in January 2001, corporate India had just emerged from two tests of its metier. It had performed miserably in both. The first was in 1997 when the boom immediately after liberalisation died out rather early. The second was the even shorter dotcom boom around the turn of the millennium. In both cases, herd mentality and access to easy money did the companies in.

Mahesh Vyas: India Inc's Prowess

Business Standard brings you expert opinions on various issues

Page 819 - Opinion Specials