Experts Live: FM has been open and transparent says Parekh

1:00 pm: Depak Parekh: I believe the GDP growth numbers may even be underestimated. FM has been honest, open and transparent. what I like best about his speech was his honesty and fairness.

Shankar Sharma of First Global: I dont care what budget has done for the stock market. It is a 2 sq km area of India. It should do something for the 2 million sq km of India. Growth number: 7.6 percent understates the potential. He has played the game of expectation management very well. If RBI steps in and lends a hand with a 150 basis point reduction in interest rates, it will trigger growth. Last year, Anna Hazare movement took away 1 percentage point growth of GDP

Madhusudan Kela: The numbers in this year’s budget look more real than from last year’s budget. it is exactly in line with what the market was expecting. No negative surprises, even if there are no huge postitve surprises.

10:55 am : And we now go live to the Lok Sabha with the budget. Can barely hear Pranab Mukherjee over the other MPs though.

10:50 am : Shankar Sharma defends himself with a straight bat. “It’s not deficit that counts, but debt. And on that count, India is smoking hot,” he says. He says the problem is the  RBI.

“The RBI is the villain of the piece, not the FM. It has killed growth, which has killed revenues, which has widened the deficit,” Sharma says

“Now, it says circularly, that unless you cut fiscal deficit, I will not cut rates. We dont want to question Mint Steet because we think it descended from heavens But we think it’s okay for us to spit on politicians,” he says.

10: 37 am : Deep within him FM wants to see GST on the agenda. GST is good for India. It might not be a 2013 event but one we may see in 2014 , says the calm and composed Ms Kidwai of HSBC. She receives rare praise from Arnab Goswami for sparking off a debate.

Meanwhile Shankar Sharma of First Global goes pro-government and says that this government has managed to bring inclusive growth, despite lowering deficits. “What more can you expect it to do?” he thuders. We are at a low level of public debt. that is what counts, Sharma says.

Fiscal deficit is a meaningless number., he says. Wonder if Pranab Mukherjee’s budget will reflect the same sentiment.

Market analyst Ramesh Damania says that the governmnet needs to do what Google’s claims : do no evil

He tears into Shankar Sharma though. “Whether Shankar  likes it or not,markets are focussed squarely on fiscal deficit,” he retorts.

Given the lack of performance last year, market will question the credibility of the Finance Minister, Damania says.

Raamdeo Agarwal of Motilal Oswal comes out swinging in support of Shankar Sharma. “Monetary policy more important than fiscal policy right now,” he says.

10:33 am: There are two years to national elections and the government can take measures to further growth, Naina Lal Kidwai of HSBC.

I would hope that all our ministers from parties set the agenda for growth and we can achieve 7 percent growth else will slump to 6 percent which is bad for all, she says

Lord Meghnad Desai takes on the politicians and says that politicians need to get the messsage. Says all MPs are populists and should say that they should say they will not tolerate measures that slow down growth.

New CII President Hari Bhartia expects some move on FDI in aviation and retail but says no control on subsidy is a disappointment. His remedy: let market determine oil prices. But he too is bullish on the budget and expects the FM to present a strong,pro-reform budget.

10:25 am : Now the corporates present their side. The Finance Minister needs to be generous on his announcements on GST so that the proposal goes through, says Adi Godrej Chairman of Godrej Industries.

Fortis Chairman Malvinder Singh is betting on finance minister Pranab Mukherjee biting the bullet this time. He expects that the Union Budget 2012 will be pro-investment and pro-growth.

10:20 am: Chetan Ahya of Morgan Stanley on CNBC says that it is important to monitor how the deficit target will be met, stressing that execution will be more important than estimates. While it has pegged the fiscal deficit target for FY12 at 6 percent, it has lowered its estimate for FY13 at 4.9 percent.

Since bringing down the fiscal deficit is the main concern for the government, Ahya feels the government will not add any additional schemes this year, which would only add to its woes. He also does not expect the government to even increase the food subsidy allocation this year.

10:15 am: Bibek Debroy: There is a bigger elephant than the ones that Swami Aiyar mentioned - and that is food subsidy Pranab will under-budget expenditure on food subsidy bill

10:00 am: Swami Aiyar says I expect government to come up with rosy projections whether that is credible is the key issue. Will Mukherjee say anything about raising fuel prices in the Budget? I dont think so

Economist Jim Walker: RBI wont be cutting interest rates any where near as what the markets expect

Economist Jim Walker - Unfortunately, we will hear a lot of platitudes. He has told us he has lost a lot of sleep But he doesnt have the means to bring deficits under control. He may not deliver.

Swami Aiyar: Game being played between RBI Governor and Pranab Mukherjee but elephant in the room is fertilizer and fuel subsidy

9:35 am: On Times Now Sanjeev Sanyal, Deutsche Bank’s Global Strategist says that India has to get serious about its fiscal house.

We need to do something about taxes, need to increase tax-GDP ratio significantly, he says adding that there are a huge number of things to be done and quickly.

We cannot expect the budget to resolve all governance issues but a strong message from the budget would help, he says.

On ET Now NK Singh, former  IAS official and JD-U MP, says the fundamentals of the economy are fragile and the fiscal deficit is high.  Unless important macroeconomic measures take place and investor confidence is reasured, markets will remain fragile.

He says that India will not be well served by creeping forward with a slow growth rate and our poverty compulsions cannot accept low growth

9:20 am: On Times Now,  Swaminathan S Aiyar says that Pranab Mukherjee will be

unwise to assume he can present a full-year budget in 2013, given the prospect of early elections. Perhaps he can, perhaps he can’t.

 Aiyar says 2012 could be the last big budget of the UPA government. In that context, this year’s budget becomes less difficult than originally envisaged.

As the budget draws closer and expectations rise from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee we get you what experts are saying across the television channels.