Deepika Padukone

• Average annual income (say last five years): Not to be revealed
• Average annual tax paid (say last five years): Not to be revealed
• What’s the wow factor in the budget? I think the best thing is the reduction in prices of small cars. A lot of people can now switch from two-wheelers to cars
• What’s the ouch factor in the budget? Nothing really. I think it’s a more or less neutral budget
• Anything you’d have liked the finance minister to do and he did or didn’t: Nothing to say
• Prefer to invest in: real estate, gold and jewellery, stock market, mutual funds, bank deposits, bonds. And why? Real estate. There’s a boom and it makes sense to invest now
• Do you rely on professional advisers or decide yourself? Mix of both. I take advice but go for something I am convinced about
• Any business investments? Perhaps movie business, restaurant, commercial property, a stud farm or horses? No
• Any wild idea or place you simply would love to invest in? Property on the French Riviera
• Advice for amateur investor: Think property and stocks. And watch your money and know where you are putting it

Alyque Padamsee

• Average annual income (say last five years): No comments
• Average annual tax paid (say last five years): I pay whatever tax my taxman says I have to pay
• What’s the wow factor in the budget? I’ll give some wah factors and woe factors:
Wah — More small cars on the roads
Woe — More traffic jams
Wah — Active smokers weep
Woe — Passive smokers smile
(I myself am one, so I don’t have to bother about cigarette prices going up)
Wah — Foreign air travel cheaper
Woe — More businessmen travel to Bangkok
• Prefer to invest in: real estate, gold and jewellery, stock market, mutual funds,
bank deposits, bonds. And why? Property and stocks, in that order. And maybe small cars
• Do you rely on professional advisers or decide yourself? Yes, I have a professional investment adviser. Otherwise, it’s too risky
• Any wild idea or place you simply would love to invest in: Dance bars all across the country except in Maharashtra
• Advice for amateur investor: Follow the business news on TV and invest accordingly

Nafisa Ali

• Average annual income (say last five years): I have no fixed income. I don’t earn much. Whatever I do, I give away to charity
• Average annual tax paid (say last five years): I pay according to what I earn from a film or campaign
• What’s the wow factor in the budget? There is no wow factor in the sense of India Shining. It’s a budget for the people. Focus has been on healthcare and social reform. The prices of drugs for HIV have been cut
• What’s the ouch factor in the budget? I’m not a technical expert on the budget
• Anything you’d have liked the finance minister to do and he did or didn’t: If the FM has not done it already, he should allow HIV drugs to be available for free in all government hospitals across the states
• Prefer to invest in: real estate, gold and jewellery, stock market, mutual funds, bank deposits, bonds. And why? I don’t have much income. My only investment is a flat
• Any wild idea or place you simply would love to invest in: Not really. I invest in my AIDS patients

Suhel Seth

• Average annual tax paid (say last five years): I pay a huge amount in tax. And 104% duty on my imported cars
• What’s the wow factor in the budget? It’s most insipid and uninspiring
• What’s the ouch factor in the budget? I don’t understand why newspapers should not pay service tax while TV channels have to pay it, and why ad agencies should
• Anything you’d have liked the finance minister to do and he did or didn’t: Fringe benefit tax should have been abolished
• Prefer to invest in: real estate, gold and jewellery, stock market, mutual funds, bank deposits, bonds. And why? I only invest in fixed deposits
• Do you rely on professional advisers or decide yourself? I rely on myself
• Any business investments? Perhaps movie business, restaurant, commercial
property, a stud farm or horses? I only run an ad agency
• Advice for amateur investor: Don’t follow what I do. Do what you want and face the
consequences

Shobhaa De

• Average annual income (say last five years): No comments
• Average annual tax paid (say last five years): No comments
• What’s the wow factor in the budget? Frankly, it’s a budget that is totally lacking in “oomph” — we expected more from Mr Chidambaram. There is no wow factor either, unless you’re dying to buy a small car
• What’s the ouch factor in the budget? The ouch factor is missing, so we can breathe easy. I only hope that donations to religious institutions being exempt from tax
won’t encourage tax-dodgers to become pious overnight. A 2% hike in service tax is bound to raise hackles. On the whole, a cautious, lacklustre, insipid budget, which brings neither smiles nor snarls to our faces
• Anything you’d have liked the finance minister to do and he did or didn’t: I was hoping for a Viagra-driven budget — this one has taken a sleeping pill
• Prefer to invest in: real estate, gold and jewellery, stock market, mutual funds, bank deposits, bonds. And why? No comments

Rituparna Sengupta

• Average annual income (say last five years): No comments
• Average annual tax paid (say last five years): No comments
• What’s the wow factor in the budget? I’ve been shooting non-stop and I don’t really know anything about it
• Prefer to invest in: real estate, gold and jewellery, stock market, mutual funds, bank
deposits, bonds. And why? I go by what my husband suggests as I am not clued in to all these schemes. We would go for stocks and bonds
• Do you rely on professional advisers or decide yourself? My chartered accountant looks into all the details. That apart, I take my husband’s advice
• Any business investments? Perhaps movie business, restaurant, commercial property, a stud farm or horses? Yes. My film and TV production company — Bhavna Aaj O Kaal
• Any wild idea or place you simply would love to invest in? Nothing to say
• Advice for amateur investor: Nothing

Prahlad Kakkar

• Average annual income (say last five years): No idea
• Average annual tax paid (say last five years): I pay a huge amount of tax — about Rs 8 lakh a year
• What’s the wow factor in the budget? Reduced excise duty on idli mixes smells of nepotism, but increasing the limit of FIIs in corporate debts from $0.5 billion to $1.5 billion will make a huge difference. If the government has the will, it may translate to improving infrastructure
• What’s the ouch factor in the budget? None. It’s a safe and “soppy” budget because there are sops for everyone
• Anything you’d have liked the finance minister to do and he did or didn’t: Cut down government expenditure. That money should go into improving infrastructure
• Prefer to invest in: real estate, gold and jewellery, stock market, mutual funds, bank deposits, bonds. And why? I’m not an investor. My money is my pleasure
• Do you rely on professional advisers or decide yourself? They’ve stopped giving me
professional advice
• Any business investments? Perhaps movie business, restaurant, commercial property, a stud farm or horses? I cook slow food, not fast food. I’m looking at a large place for a base kitchen that would supply several of my restaurants
• Any wild idea or place you simply would love to invest in: I want to buy an island
• Advice for amateur investor: Buy land in cities and sit on it

Bipasha Basu

• Average annual income (say last five years): Off the cuff, I cannot reply
• What’s the wow factor in the budget? Removal of fringe benefit tax on the amount companies pay brand ambassadors. I’m also happy that cigarettes will cost more
• What’s the ouch factor in the budget? The 12% service tax. It will hurt everyone, including ad agencies
• Anything you’d have liked the finance minister to do and he did or didn’t?
He has not given any tax breaks to the common man
• Prefer to invest in: real estate, gold and jewellery, stock market, mutual funds, bank deposits, bonds. And why? Real estate. Also mutual funds, jewellery, stocks and LIC policies
• Do you rely on professional advisers or decide yourself? Yes, but the final call is mine
• Any business investments? Perhaps movie business, restaurant, commercial property, a stud farm or horses? I plan to look at a restaurant option
• Any wild idea or place you simply would love to invest in? A farmhouse for my parents in interior Goa
• Advice for amateur investor: Go for mutual funds or tax-free government bonds

Dia Mirza

• What’s the wow factor in the budget? I didn’t like the budget at all, what with increased service tax and business class foreign travel getting costlier. There’s nothing wow for me
• What’s the ouch factor in the budget? For actors like us, service tax is a big thing. Whatever we earn, 30% goes as income-tax, then you have service tax and we even pay 10% to our managers. So it’s like 50% is gone just like that. It’s like two of us have gone for a meal at a five-star hotel and the government is eating the meal
with us.
• Anything you’d have liked the finance minister to do and he did or didn’t: By bringing down the price of small cars, more people would be buying cars. That would mean more traffic, which in turn would mean increased pollution. So that’s something I didn’t expect
• Prefer to invest in: real estate, gold and jewellery, stock market, mutual funds, bank deposits, bonds. And why? I primarily invest in mutual funds. Although I have started trying out the stock market, I’m not so much into shares because I find it very scary
• Do you rely on professional advisers or decide yourself? I decide myself with a little help from here and there
• Advice for amateur investor: No comments

Cyrus Broacha

• Average annual income (say last five years): Cannot be disclosed. Company pays me so little that it wouldn’t be polite to do so
• Average annual tax paid (say last five years): Same thing
• What’s the wow factor in the budget? Petrol price hasn’t gone up. But it’s conditional happiness, like being with a girl who is about to break up. The rest I will read in the papers tomorrow
• What’s the ouch factor in the budget? Service tax. Perhaps, Chidambaram didn’t take the right medication, or it was the heat. But otherwise, things that affect me, which usually affect a five-year-old, like sweets, are unaffected
• Prefer to invest in: real estate, gold and jewellery, stock market, mutual funds, bank deposits, bonds. And why? My father handles them. He’s older
• Any wild idea or place you simply would love to invest in? An adult magazine. Gambling should be legalised
• Advice for amateur investor: Stop buying unnecessary stuff. Or, invest in me