Dr. Jagdish Shettigar, Convenor, Economic Cell, Bharatiya Janata Party said that the budget was not at all 'far-sighted'. The budget has neither spelt out the next phase of economic reforms nor has set long-term goals for the rural economy, or for industry. The Economic Survey clearly spelt out the challenges before the government. The Finance Minister has completely ignored the policy prescriptions encapsulated in the Economic Survey. He remarked that the high interest rates will have a dampening effect on the overall growth. Mr. T. K. Chatterjee, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Kolkata said that the bonanza that the last budget has conferred on individual taxpayers has surpassed expectations. The exemption limit for attracting income-tax has gone up from Rs. 1.10 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh. Further, the Finance Minister introduced innovative new tax measures. The Commodities Transactions Tax (CTT) will henceforth be applied vigorously. Mr. Amitav Kothari, Senior Tax Consultant describing the Budget as bold and innovative said that the budget has raised the tax exemption limit considerably to allow more money to be pumped into the system. This and excise duty cuts would give impetus to the manufacturing sector.