Speaking at a post-Budget seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), which has been unhappy about the surcharge, the Finance Minister also hinted at a probable drop in interest rates to revive the industry and a flagging economy.

While maintaining that managing the monetary policy was the Reserve Bank's job, Sinha said the Government's Budget decisions had made it easy for the RBI governor to take ``appropriate decisions''. He, however, asked the industry to be patient asking, ``Why all good things should happen at one time?'' On the issue of surcharge, he said, ``When I say temporary surcharge, I am looking at the next 12 months. If the situation indeed improves then maybe the surcharge will stand abolished.'' On his tax increasesand the rationalisation of indirect taxes, the Finance Minister said the philosophy behind the exercise was to move to an across-the-board, rule-based regime which would eventually yield a central single value-added tax, rather than retain one based on discrimination and lobbying.

``I have noticed that some Indian industries get into a lot of trouble a few months before the Budget but after the Budget is passed everything becomes all right,'' he quipped. He asserted that there was no getting around businesses' need for becoming competitive and for that they must stop viewing excise and customs duty cuts as a tool to revive their particular industry.

Sinha said another component of the Budget's philosophy was that rural demand must be stimulated and the only way is to improve the quality of lives and income of the people of this country.The minister said that the general impression created after the foodgrain issue price and urea price hikes was that the weakest sections had been penalised. The surchargein the Budget came in that context, with the imperative to spread the burden equitably.

He said much of the burden imposed had been given away as different concessions. ``The Government will lose Rs 2,000 crore due to the roll-back of the cap on Modvat," he added.