Need a collection of 'buts' to get the real picture.

"The budget speech was structured under Aspirational India, Economic Development and Caring Society -- signifying its holistic and inclusive approach to the way India grows," wrote industrialist Harsh Goenka. "The fine balancing that the finance minister has done between the tight fiscal situation and the need for a strong support to boost investment and growth is the right balance, but it could have been better," wrote British-born billionaire Gopichand HInduja. He feels that there could have been more support for the manufacturing and automotive sectors, which generate the largest number of jobs, but otherwise, he approves of the support for agriculture, education and skill development, encouraging investment, improving railways, and the changes in personal taxes. "My  key takeaway from today's budget is this one sentence, which I think summarizes the Modi government's efforts to stimulate the economy: Wealth creators will be respected in this country! I am one of them," wrote Anil Agarwal, London-based chairman of the Vedanta group. Wondering how the Finance Minister was going to maintain a balance between stimulating the economy and fiscal prudence, chairman of the Aditya Birla group Kumar Mangalam Birla wrote, "Evidently, the budget has achieved quite a pragmatic balance -- by letting the deficit trajectory slip by half a percentage point of gross domestic product (GDP), but still remaining consistent with the Fiscal Responsibility and budget Management Act." "One looks forward to the follow-up steps in monitoring and expediting these projects in the near term, which can be a key propellant for breaking the growth barriers that we have seen in the past." This year's budget was directionally sound, but could have done more to jump-start a stalling economy," wrote CEO of Biocon Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. This was the best the Finance Minister could do because, "Any fiscal pumppriming of the economy would have other adverse effects. It can lead to higher long-term interest rates or risk a sovereign ratings downgrade," wrote Chief Economist of Nomura Sonal Verma. "There is much in Budget 2020 that I like," wrote Prof Arvind Panagariya. But protectionist measures have increased. "Not only have tariff increases continued, licence permit raj-era protectionist vocabulary also has had a comeback." "The government has underspent Rs 75,532 crore (Rs 755.32 billion) on budgeted food subsidy," wrote Prof Himanshu. "This food cutback has already hit the food consumption of the poor, who are struggling with high food inflation, and declining wages." "A fatigue with more good intentions rather than a big push for change. That's the story of Budget 2020," wrote consulting editor of Mint Monica Halan. No one dares to criticise Indian politicians. You have to collect the 'buts' to get the real picture.