As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the second Narendra Modi government’s final financial plan, mid-day caught up with a group of family and friends in the western suburbs of Mumbai to gauge their mood and expectations from the outgoing government’s interim budget.

While there was appreciation for the fact that the government did not put any additional tax burden on citizens, there was also concern around policies aimed at uplifting the downtrodden, empowering women, generating employment and delivering better technologies for farmers, all of which will have short- and long-term implications on the economy and stability of our country.