Annual budget session — the one parliamentary procedure that has all eyeballs riveted to the TV for it affects us all and sets the tone for the year to come. And most initial reactions suggest that the Finance Minister has taken a middle path this time by not tinkering with income tax slabs, he has shaved levies off certain commodities’ and increased charges on some goods and services that affect youngsters directly. As a result, branded clothes, eating out and airfares will get dearer, mobile phones and computers will soon get cheaper.
And those in the city following the Budget closely laud the impetus provided to education and certain other sectors, they are up against branded items and eating out turning dearer. Shireen Tabassum, a buyer at an export house, quips, “As branded clothes and eating out gets expensive, the hip crowd will tighten their purses. But then it will augur well for the lesser established apparel brands some of which can’t stand up to foreign designer competitors.” Seconds Niharika Rai, DU student, adds, “Those for whom the economy is a priority will either cut on shopping from expensive fashion houses and pizzerias or go for the smaller Indian brands. Price hike hardly matters to those who shop in showrooms, malls and designer outlets.”
About how increased airfares will affect commuters, Amitesh Jalan, who frequently flies for business purposes, avers, “Hike in aviation fuel price (which happened the same day) would’ve anyways affected the air-travellers’ purse because the aviation companies only pass the burden onto travelers. But the increased levies on air travel in the Budget only made matters worse.”
FM also brought advocates and arbitrators into the tax net, but that doesn’t mean lawyers will bear the brunt, shares Sattwik Shekhar, law student at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law. “Individual litigants will have to pay a hefty sum to hire lawyers. But because litigation is never going to end I believe it’s a blessing in disguise for our profession,” he adds.
Talking broadly on the aspects that cover technology and automobile in the Budget and how prices of battery-operated vehicles or mobile handsets can or cannot affect commoners, Manpreet Saluja, an engineer, says, “Budget or not, prices keep rising and the common man has to adjust his spendings to make ends meet. The price of mobile phones may have decreased, but who buys a handset everyday? The fact that battery-driven vehicles and conversion kits are getting cheaper augurs well for the environment as the future definitely belongs to hybrids. But the initial cost is very high and the infrastructure for hybrid vehicles is lacking. They need to bring about a sea-change in a short span or keep the hybrids on backburner for the next four-five years.” “I haven’t come across any charging points for electric vehicles in public places or petrol pumps. Car buyers need more incentives if you want to see more Revas on the road,” he sums up.