The Budget 2014 is a balanced budget and is in line with the industry's expectations, writes Country President of Alstom India & South Asia.

With varying degrees of severity, Fitch, Moody's and Standard & Poor's all expressed worries that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's pledge to keep this year's fiscal deficit to 4.1 percent of gross domestic product looked unrealistic.

The Budget outlay for defence too is up 12.4 per cent over 2013/14 to Rs 229,000 crore.

Titagarh Wagons Ltd, which has risen 183 per cent in 2014 compared to the Nifty's gain of 23.65 per cent, falls 4.4 per cent. Texmaco Rail & Engineering Ltd is down 1.3 per cent and BEML Ltd slumps 3.7 per cent.

The new BJP government has its hands full, with an economy on the skids and an imbalanced fisc. Business leaders are hopeful that quick decision-making will replace the policy inaction that weighed down the second avatar of the Congress-led UPA-II.

Pitching for higher allocation for the infrastructure sectors, the finance minister said, there should be more funds for defence, railways, national highways and telecom.

Amid constant interruptions by some members, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presented the interim budget for 2014-15 in the Lok Sabha.

Despite the growing threat, India spends a miniscule amount on cyber securit .

Prominent highlights of the Budget for 2012-13 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on Friday:

Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi proposed marginal hike in passenger fares - 2 paisa per km for suburban trains; 3 paisa per km for mail and express trains.FULL COVERAGE

This year, a bigger Bengalbonanza may be in the offing from the Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee,especially since the Rail Budget almost coincides with the announcement thepoll dates - expected on March 1.

The Budget may have shaken the markets, but you can still pick some gems from the infrastructure, FMCG, auto and pharmaceutical sectors.

Revenue inflows are unlikely to jump soon, unless taxes are upped. So, let’s rule out easing of tax rates, though there might be some sops for individuals, like a hike in deductibles for home loans or tax-exempt bank deposits.

Consider taking up the construction of dedicated freight corridors on these routes (about 11,500 km double line; approximate cost Rs 1,50,000 crore) as a national project funded by the Government of India, to be completed in 10 years.

How ministries utilised their budget in the last 10 years