"The Budget was good for the stock market. The market will wait till the fine print of the Budget comes. Till then, it will continue to respond positively," India Infoline vice president (research) Amar Ambani said.

Investors cheered the budgetary proposals, with the benchmark Sensex soaring more than two per cent, or 415 points, to 16,669.25 points in the afternoon trade.

The Budget has provided considerable relief to income tax payers by raising the slabs at two levels but hiked the central excise duty on non-petroleum products across the board from 8 to 10 per cent.

Jay Shankar, an economist with Religare Enterprises, pointed out that the Budget proposals are tad higher than market expectations.

JP Morgan India head Kalpana Morparia said she has rated the Budget quite well. "I rated this budget quite well actually...eight on ten," she noted.

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