Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday floored an industrialist who tried to corner him by asking why lawyers have been spared from service tax.

"The best answer to that is -- there is a popular belief that lawyers render no service," the lawyer-turned politician Chidambaram shot back to a peel of laughter among captains of Indian industry.

The finance minister was responding to a question during a customary post-budget meeting with industrialists at FICCI.

In his Union Budget for 2004-05, Chidambaram has raised service tax rate from 8 to 10 per cent besides bringing in 15 more service in a bid to integrate tax on goods and services.

This has angered many in the service sector, as some of them were so far enjoying tax holidays for decades.