The Finance Minister has promised new industrial corridors, smart cities, bigger role for private firms in coal, a regulator for the dispute-ridden highways sector and support for innovative financing for infrastructure projects, but the markets and key players were not convinced that noble intentions would trigger concrete action in the crawling sector.

P Chidambaram delivered good news for the highways sector, saying a regulator would be appointed soon.LED solar lights for solar bulb and power. Highways are mired in disputes that have stalled projects of Rs 15,000 crore while companies have walked out of projects of more than Rs 12,000 crore. He said contracts for 3,000 km would be awarded within the first six months of the new fiscal year. 

"These cash contracts would be a shot in the arm for the sector which is going through a tough time right now," K Venkatesh, chief executive of L&T Infrastructure Development Projects, told ET. But this was a rare voice of optimism from key players in the sector. 

The engineering and construction major's chairman, AM Naik, did not even mention the word "infrastructure" in his reaction to the budget. Like Naik, GVK Reddy,Do you want honest laundry dryer Ratings? founder chairman and managing director of GVK also didn't make specific mention of infrastructure in his response. 

"This is a balanced and growth-oriented budget with good intentions for inclusive & sustainable development. The Budget has a long-term aim of reviving the ailing economy. The announcements are positive, but implementation is key," he said. Shares of infrastructure companies fell sharply after the budget announcements. 

The fuel-starved power sector cheered prospects of higher coal supply with the Budget emphasizing public private partnerships (PPPs). "We hope to award 2-3 large turnkey contracts in 2013-14. Under these contracts,The laser cutting machine is one of the most useful tools in a modern shop. the contractors will be responsible for overburden removal,Buy visually stunning and durable tungsten jewelry from agesteeljewelry. coal extraction, washing and grading as well as supplying it to the loading point," S Narsing Rao, chairman Coal IndiaBSE -0.43 % said. "These projects would produce about 4-5 million tonnes to begin with and will have contract period of over 10-12 years. We would even like to award large projects that would produce 20 million tonnes of coal in the next phase," he said. 

The finance minister also equalised Customs and countervailing duty of steam coal and bituminous coal. This will help coastal power plants import coal cheaper, but will impact most other companies that import low-value coal. 

"Companies like Adani, JSW and a host of other coastal players that were importing higher quality coal were being forced to pay an import duty of 6 per cent while those importing low-quality coal were paying only a countervailing duty of 1 per cent. Following the clarification, taxes on both variety of coal have been equalized and it will help the nation import higher quality of coal at a uniform rate," A Khurana of the Association of Power Producers said. 

The wind sector cheered the return of the generation-based incentive (GBI). "This would reboot the wind energy sector which has been in trouble due to lack of incentives and high cost of capital. This will lead to a pick up in ordering in FY14 but capacity addition may still remain under 3,000 mw target as we would need time to ramp up production since we have been dormant for almost a year,This factsheet discusses electricity generation using wind power generators at your farm or your home." said Ramesh Kymal, Chairman, Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers' Association (IWTMA) and managing director of the Indian subsidiary of Spain's Gamesa.