Rating agencies and analysts today welcomed Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda's maiden budget for not being populist, but raised some reservations on implementation and lack of clarity on funding side.

"While the Railway Budget talks about trying to be the largest freight carrier globally and identifies alternative funding requirements to achieve this target, it does not state a clear strategy to meet these requirements," India Ratings said in a note today. It is a budget "high on promises but low on design," the agency said.

It acknowledged that Gowda has presented alternative ways of financing like public private partnerships and allowing foreign direct investment in almost all the sectors of the railways, barring direct operations. Analysts at the brokerage firm Bank of America Merill Lynch said implementation holds the key to the promises made during the budget. Its peer, Nomura welcomed the budget, calling it "sensible" which "steered clear of unnecessary populism."