Hyderabad cheers, half-heartedly

HYDERABAD: For Hyderabadis, the few things good about the Budget were laced with something bad. If the young were happy about mobile phones and television sets becoming cheaper, they rued the rise in service tax, which would make eating out very expensive.
Salaried employees said they were glad that there was no additional direct tax burden, but at the same time rued the insignificant rise in the tax exemption limit.The T-hit realty sector hoped that there could be some movement in the affordable housing sector, but said that the rise in steel and cement prices was a dampener.
Film enthusiasts and filmmakers were happy that service tax would not be imposed on the industry but across sectors Hyderabadis admitted that evading tax is not going to be easy anymore.
“The Budget has been very disappointing given the blanket rise in excise duty of all commodities, right from soaps to clothes,” rued Abhay Jain, a city chartered accountant.
The worst hit with the high service tax are students and young professionals. “Eating out is already very expensive here and we will be unable to afford it now,” said Gurtejbir Sandhu, a B.Com student.
“The hike in service tax actually means we will have to pay more not just at restaurants, but also for other services like cabs or at beauty parlours,” said Karthika Anagha, student, St Francis College for Women Begumpet.
But for those who have just started working the tax exemption from Rs 1.8 lakh to Rs 2 lakh was a welcome announcement.
“Most of us earn around Rs 15,000 to Rs 16,000 and so we can indeed enjoy the improved tax exemption limit,” said Archana Gangadharan, who started working last October.
The city’s real estate and film industry sectors welcomed the budget, the former with some reservations though.
“With a service tax exemption on affordable housing (no service tax up to 60 sq m), we can expect to see more small-scale projects in the city that have been missing from the topography so far. Also welcome has been the move to exempt rental housing from the service tax bracket.
“However, what could adversely affect the industry is a further rise in price of steel and cement. Even transportation I believe is likely to be costlier now,” said C Sekhar Reddy, president, CREDAI (AP). But filmmakers were gung ho about the service tax exemption.
“That is the best thing that could have happened to the film industry. If the government went ahead and imposed service tax as it had planned to, the film industry would have got badly affected.
“I would say, it would have got finished off but now the industry will survive,” said D Suresh Babu, president A P Film Chamber of Commerce.
But many Hyderabadis, however, were counting something else on Friday — Sachin Tendulkar’s much awaited ton, and chose to remain oblivious to the Budget that they knew would not have anything substantial for the middle class.
Full Coverage on Budget 2012: Budget 2012, Budget News 2012