Effect on equity markets: “The Budget proved to be a ‘low-on-deliverance’ affair and this was magnified on account of the huge expectations that the market had built from it. Amongst the many shortfalls in the Budget, it was silent on the timeline for tackling the fiscal deficit position, and the reforms process announcements expected from it which would have aided in handling the fiscal situation of the government.

As far as the various tax reforms were concerned, no significant changes in the same goes well in line with our expectation, as the government would need to focus on spending. We believe a silver lining in the Budget was the increase in outlay for planned expenditure, which is necessary to push India into a higher growth trajectory. Overall, while the Budget did not stand true to all of market expectations, we expect that the government’s efforts will continue outside the Budget also and will help improve corporate India’s earnings going forward. Thus, we expect the stock market to reflect this improvement in earnings and would advise investors to stay long on the India story.”

Effect on commodity markets: Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT) to be abolished

“A very positive sign for Indian commodities market. Being in the nascent stage of development, abolition of CTT will reduce transaction costs in commodities trading, thereby the burden will come down and participation in these markets shall increase. CTT was to be introduced in the last budget and was causing concern in the growth of the Indian commodities market. This news of abolition of CTT has brought in great relief”.