A survey to put a finger on the Genext pulse regarding their interest in the Union Budget has thrown up mixed results, some hinting a lukewarm response to the annual exercise.
The online poll on Budget awareness was conducted by the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research. Responses were taken from the brightest minds in the top 10 B-schools across the country.
Of 113 students covered in the survey, 96.5 per cent expressed interest in the budget. However, only 23 per cent wanted to watch the live telecast.
But Suranjan Das of SP Jain — part of three-member team that conducted the survey — felt that students didn’t consider the budget very important.
Most preferred to complete a class assignment rather than watch the budget live. The level of interest seemed even lower at the IIMs with only 13 per cent keen to watch it live.
“With so many things happening on the global front, there was a feeling that business school students have lost interest in the budget and hence it has lost its importance,” said Das. “We wanted to confirm if our theory is right or wrong. Besides, we wanted to get a pulse not just for business schools in Mumbai but in other cities as well.”
Conducted between February 24 to February 27, the online survey covered the IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore and Kozhikode, Xavier Labour Relation Institute of India, Delhi’s Faculty of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology’s School of Management, and Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneshwar. There were no response from IIM, Lucknow.
{{/usCountry}}Conducted between February 24 to February 27, the online survey covered the IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore and Kozhikode, Xavier Labour Relation Institute of India, Delhi’s Faculty of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology’s School of Management, and Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneshwar. There were no response from IIM, Lucknow.
{{/usCountry}}While 52 per cent of the respondents felt the budget is a somewhat important activity, 48 per cent believed that it continues to be a significant economic exercise even within the paradigm of liberalisation.
Almost 89 per cent felt the budget had substantially or partly lost its pull and around 52 per cent felt that the Budget is now being crowded out in the public imagination by the barrage of information.
The team was not surprised with the overall results, but a few findings were “intense”. For instance, only 28 per cent felt the budget must be presented in Parliament. Despite the corporate sector being the “beneficiary”, 64 per cent felt it should limit itself to an advisory role.