The Hindu Business Line : Thursday, February 27, 2003

Going commercial
TWO YEARS AGO, Ms Mamata Banerjee as Railway Minister refused to increase passenger fares and earnings soared beyond her Budget estimates; last year Mr Nitish Kumar raised fares and earnings have now fallen short of the target. He has perhaps ... More

BUDGET

Auto sector — Excise cut and revenue neutrality
REDUCING the excise duty on automobiles is good for the automobile sector, consumers and the country, opines Mr Jagdish Khattar, Managing Director, Maruti Udyog. There are press reports speculating that the Budget would bring down the excise ... More

Budget reading makes imminent sense
THE Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, probably means well when his confidante says that he is proposing to reduce the length of his Budget speech, targeting it only at consumers. That is a noble sentiment, but the new team in the Finance ... More

Will the Budget kick-start demand?
THIS year's Budget has not received the kind of media attention that this exercise usually does. The absence of pre-Budget discussions and the possibility of a US- Iraq war have overshadowed it. Regardless of this, the basic thrust of the Budget ... More

RAILWAY BUDGET

Nitish Kumar's gamble
The highlight of the Railway Budget has been the innovative approach to freight services, though how effective they will be in garnering additional revenues only time will tell. All in all a populist, though somewhat innovative, Budget that spares a ll users, especially the already burdened common man. Is Mr Nitish Kumar on right track, asks R. C. Acharya. More

Needed, a paradigm move
THE Indian Railways is at a critical juncture, where it has to make a choice between being a vibrant business entity ready to leverage opportunities or resign itself to a threatened irrelevance. It is indeed ironical that in a country like ... More

Figures on the beaten track?
THE shadow of the elections is discernible on Mr Nitish Kumar's second successive Rail Budget. For, despite some pragmatism, it seems to be more biased towards political populism. While the decision not raise freight rate on any commodity is a ... More

Mixed signals
The Budget pleases many, but in that process, has lost the opportunity to further progress with rebalancing of passenger tariff; it also places a heavy dependence on performance, as otherwise the revenue expected will not materialise. More

LETTERS

HPCL-BPCL divestment

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