"Manufacturing is the Achilles' Heel of the Indian economy. The deceleration in investment in manufacturing is particularly worrying. Consequently, there is no uptick yet in manufacturing."

-P. Chidambaram, Minister of Finance

"An interim budget, presented days before the general elections, has limited scope. Nevertheless, Mr Chidambaram's ninth budget speech showed yet again that he has his pulse on the most pressing issues. He has rightly acknowledged the deceleration in investment in manufacturing as a key problem area; and has announced excise cuts on capital goods, consumer nondurables and automobiles, to aid recovery in investments and consumption."

-Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group

"The decrease in excise duty from 12 per cent to 10 per cent will boost sentiment. However, a 2 per cent drop in excise duty against the average price increase of 10-12 per cent over the last two years may not propel growth in the appliances industry,"

-Kamal Nandi, Executive Vice-President, Sales & Marketing, Godrej Appliances

"The proposal to reduce excise duty on automobiles in the current economic environment is a welcome step. However it would have been more meaningful and impactful if the excise duty on steel would have been reduced,"

-Firdose Vandrevala, Executive Vice Chairman, Essar Steel

"I expect most automakers to pass on the excise duty cut to consumers in entirety immediately. Lets hope for a spurt in sales in next quarter."

-Pawan Goenka, Executive Director of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M)

"The budget does well in aiding consumption, having lowered excise duties on some key segments like capital goods, consumer durables and mobile phones," said "It also positively impacts the domestic manufacturing ecosystem with the announcement around locally manufactured cellphones. In a growing mobile market like India, where the telecom sector contributes nearly 3% to the GDP, any positive amendment to the tax structure to reduce costs can consequently spur growth and bridge the growing urban-rural divide."

-Sunil Lalwani, Managing Director, Blackberry India.

"I would like to thank Finance Minister for the attention to mobile handset segment. We have to go through the fine print before coming to any conclusion,"

-Pankaj Mohindroo, National President, Indian Cellular Association

"The statement was balanced. While industry expectations were limited from an interim budget formality, the emphasis laid on turning around the growth trajectory and reviving the manufacturing sector in particular is well received,"

-Sidharth Birla, President, FICCI

"The reduction in excise duty on sectors such as automobiles, capital goods and consumer electronics is indeed welcome as this will help revive demand in these sectors."

-Kris Gopalakrishnan, President, CII

"Surely the entire duty cut will be passed on to the consumer. It is difficult to predict how much benefit there will be to volumes but certainly there should be a positive impact on it. I think the next three months should be interesting…There might be a rush to buy vehicles and take benefit of the new excise duty."

-R C Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL)