Finance Minister Arun Jaitley leaves his office to present the budget in Delhi

The budget is in line with expectations and is, in fact, very good from an overall perspective. The pain of the Big ‘D’ – demonetisation – can be seen easing in a month or two. It will not spill over to the next fiscal. There is also high importance being given to the rural sector. The government has emphasised on agriculture, infrastructure for the rural belt, education and job opportunities for the poor as priority and these are positives for the economy in terms of a long-term perspective. There is reason to cheer for small and middle enterprises, those with a turnover of less than R50 crore annually, as their tax has been reduced from 30 per cent to 25 per cent, which is a real boost.