Key proposals impacting the banking & financial markets

Vaidyanathan Venkateswaran, Senior Consultant (Vaidyanathan_v@infosys.com), and Alex Joseph, Consultant (alex_jospeh01@infosys.com) Infosys Technologies Limited

The Union Budget for the fiscal year 2006-07 was presented by the Hon. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to the parliament on February 28, 2006. Riding on the back of a strong economic performance, the Union Budget laid significant emphasis on was social sectors like education, healthcare, poverty alleviation and providing economic support to the weaker section of the society. The Finance Minister has paid special attention to reduction in the fiscal deficit and managing it within the targets set under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. It was also heartening to note the policy of continuity on the reforms path. The reforms measures include cut in customs duty rates, increase in FII investment cap in the debt market, setting up of a unified exchange traded market for corporate bonds etc. In this paper we have attempted to analyze the Key Budget proposals impacting the banking & financial markets.