Pranab Mukherje will probably go down in history as a Finance Minister who did his job well for the country but was never understood in the right perspective by either Corporate India or the Individual Tax Payer in the 2012-13 budget he presented to parliament on March 16, 2012. Corporate India felt disappointed no major announcement had been made to kick-start an economy in a limbo in the wake of a second recession threatening the global economic order and the individual tax payer grappling with a spiralling inflation did not get the much needed tax reliefs as the exemption limit was pushed to just `2 lakhs from `1.80 lakhs instead of the demand for `3 lakhs. Corporate India fears that the excise hikes and the rise in service tax and widening of the service tax base might push up costs of raw materials and consequently anufacturing costs making it less competitive in both the domestic and international markets. The individual tax payer feels if products become costlier manufacturers will pass on the burden to the customer,then the relief from the marginal rise in the exemption limit of Income Tax would stand negated.Because the cost push inflation will make him pay more for the commodities he seeks to buy with the extra income which does not in real terms become extra at all.