The Union Budget is less than 10 days away and stock markets are waiting with bated breath. Will the government throw a tax curveball on Dalal Street? What do investors want from the finance minister?

CNBC-TV18 spoke to Sanjay Mookim, Head - India Eq Research at JPMorgan, and Mahesh Nandurkar, India Strategist, Jefferies on what they expect from the budget.

Jefferies’ view is that the government will struggle to hit double-digit tax revenue growth in FY23. Non-tax revenues will perhaps see a better year. Expenditure should support capex and fiscal deficit will see a slow consolidation.

Mookim says that it will be a ‘macro budget’, he says government will have to choose between countercyclical spending and fiscal consolidation, which has been kind of the choice now for the last many years. He says the central government can cut deficits in FY23 but still will deliver absolute growth in spends.

For full interview, watch accompanying video...