Pin-drop silence fell over the house Friday as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the union budget for 2010-11, quite in contrast to the consistent din that marred Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's budget two days ago.

The opposition, which was up in arms Wednesday when Banerjee outlined the rail budget, listened solemnly as Mukherjee began reading out from the voluminous papers in front of him.

Banerjee came in for much jeering for favouring her home state West Bengal and provoked laughter for her pronunciation. But her fellow Bengali was spared the same as the most serious economic business of the year got underway.