Why are the country's top businessmen supporting India's budget 2010?

A quick glance at the leading dailies after Pranab Mukherjee presented the budget on February 26 reveals that most of our top businessmen are quite happy with the budget. It is quite clear that in the budget, there was not even a pretence of carrying out any structural economic reforms. Except for some tinkering with tax rates/ slabs, optimistic revenue projections and some lofty intentions, there was little really to suggest that the Finance Minister was on top of his job and knew what was needed to streamline the economy and boost the animal spirits. Very little ( if at all anything) has been done to bring the structural part of the budget deficit under control. Yet our leading industrialists are patting the Finance Minister on the back. Why is this so?

The answer lies in the mindset of the business class in the country. Right from the British days,our businessmen have believed in a marriage of convenience with the ruling class. People familiar with Indian History would know that the business class, though it always projected itself as a patriotic group, did not support Mahatma Gandhi in the freedom struggle throughout. When they realised that Gandhi was crossing the limits and their relations with the British Government might be severely damaged, these businessmen conveniently distanced themselves. At the same time, when their business interests were severely threatened, they came together and were quite vociferous in making various demands of the Government. The Bombay Plan is a good example.

Barring a few of our businessmen who have the courage and conviction to stand up to the politicians, most of the others are happy to allow the current state of affairs to continue. They are well aware that in an economy where the Government still plays such a central role, picking up fights with ministers, expecially the Finance Minister does not really make good business sense! The message of this blog is that let us not guage the quality of the budget from the reactions of our businessmen!