Mini-Budget: What captains said

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">A Mahindra of CII: </span>Reduction in excise duties shows the government is committed to reforms. It also belies expectations that reforms would be put on the backburner because of elections. These measures clearly reflect the strong political will of the Vajpayee government.All this will reduce costs and enhance competitiveness of the Indian industry. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">B Tempest of Ranbaxy: </span>Consumers will benefit from customs duty reduction on life-saving bulk drugs, formulations and medical equipment. It''s a proactive step by the government to bring the prices down. Lower duties will make pharma firms more efficient in making prices of these drugs lower. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">R P Singh of NTPC: </span>Cost of transmission, instrumentation and metering will go down. Consumer will benefit from more automation as they can chose the time to buy power from a supplier. Power may be available at lower rates at certain times like the off-peak hour rates in the telecom sector. Competition in distribution will go up. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Y K Modi of Ficci: </span>It''s a positive sign that we are moving closer towards the Asean region. This will put more pressure on firms to act on internal reforms. Construction will get a boost. Housing loan rates may drop with more competition among housing finance companies and banks as home loan rates will be market defined. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Arun Maira of BCG: </span>Decisions will propel growth in the coming quarters. It''s good to see that even with the run up to elections, customs duties are reduced. A boost to communication and connectivity will improve the efficiency of individuals. It''s a true recognition of the consumer who can connect to the world much better than ever before. </div> </div>