The interim budget presented today, by Mr.Pranab Mukherjee who is additionally heading the Ministry of Finance along with his original post as head of Ministry of Home Affairs, turned out to be a mere political speech or rather the opportunity was chosen to present a sort of report card of the performance of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

While the Minister seemed to be in election mode with his heavy praise for the country’s farmers, the industry is widely perceived to be let down by the interim budget.

The Minister in his speech mentioned that the communication sector grew by 26 percent per annum. But apart from this there was no tangible benefit announced to the sector. If the government really thinks it has performed well on its support to telecommunications sector then one wonders why the government is maintaining a silence on its failure to come out with a comprehensive policy on 3G services in the country all through its tenure.

The Minister said that telecommunications alongwith Rural Development, Atomic Energy, Textiles, Urban Development, Youth Affairs and Sports and Railways  will come under the central plan expenditure for which the budget has been increased from Rs 243,386 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 282,957 crore in the interim period.

While the government claimed that rural development is of utmost importance to it there was no specific mention of using telecommunications as a medium to achieve this aim.

Infrastructure was the only sector to find some reasonable incentives and it remains to be seen if telecom infrastructure companies too stand to gain benefit out of the move. Calling for increased public private partnership in the infrastructure segment, the government claimed that Rs.67 thousand seven hundred crore have been given in-principle or final approval by the PPP (Public Private Partnership). Infrastructure sector comprises of telecommunications, power generation, airports, ports, roads and railways.

To facilitate continuation of such ongoing infrastructure projects which normally require sustained financial support, the government said that the India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd. (IIFCL) will refinance 60 percent of commercial bank loans for PPP projects in critical sectors over the next eighteen months or so.

“For this purpose, IIFCL has been authorized to raise Rs.10 thousand crore in the market by the end of March 2009. An additional Rs.30 thousand crore can be raised if required. With this, IIFCL and banks will be able to support projects involving a total investment of Rs.100 thousand crore in infrastructure,” said Pranab Mukherjee.