The supporters of globalisation had great expectations on two fronts from this Budget: huge investment in tourism and infrastructure.
Their hopes have been belied because on both the fronts Finance Minister P Chidambaram did not try to think out of the box. This was the opinion of most industrialists-turned-politicians after the Budget was presented.
Lalit Suri, one of India's leading hoteliers and an independent Rajya Sabha member supported by the Congress, told rediff.com: "Although this Budget will not displease many, my expectations have not been fulfilled by it. I am unhappy. I wanted government to give 'infrastructure status' to the tourism industry. He (the finance minister) didn't do it."
He said, "When I met the finance minister before the Budget I had given him all the figures to prove our point. The tourism industry is a bigger revenue earner and employment provider than the IT industry. The finance minister has ignored the tourism industry's demand of allowing the 'amalgamation and merger' clause that permits us to manage our profits and losses. It's not a bad Budget, but it's not the great one either."
"The government last year got more than Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) out of service tax which has encouraged it to increase it further this time and this one single hike will prove to be a huge revenue earning step," he added.
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