6 APRIL 1985, Page 15

A Budget for growth

Somebody likes the Budget. I now have a broker's circular which calls it bold and innovative: 'Abolition of Estate Duty, Interest Tax, substantial reduction of in- come tax rates, raising of exemption limits, withdrawal of iniquitous income-tax provi- sions . . . . Count your blessings, this unique and please-all (except the professional opposition-for-opposition's-sake politi- cians and the orthodox leftists) budget has conferred on the tax payers. It looks like: Ask and you shall get it.' Having raised Mr Lawson's hopes, I am sorry to let ttlern down, but the praise is for his opposite number in Delhi, and comes, as the prose style might suggest, from the leading Bom- bay broker. No wonder the Bombay mar- ket had to be closed under the weight of overwhelming demand, and no wonder the broker has held out his usual weekly feature 'Investment advice' owing, he says, to shortage of space. But if he is right in saying that India is moving towards a regime where controls are the exception rather than the rule, this huge developing economy, with its five per cent growth rate and its strong financial background, could begin to make its only rival – China – look like the world's largest cottage industry.