Says Manish Sonthalia, senior VP Research & Strategy, Motilal Oswal Securities, "The external sector is actually bleeding given the 30-35 per cent y-o-y decline, thus expect the sector to get a lot of attention."

Among relief measures expected are interest rate and tax subsidies as well as higher export incentives. Likewise, given the UPA's stated policy of achieving 'inclusive' growth, the market is expecting sops for agriculture sector and rural India.

Says Nischal Maheshwari, head of Research, Edelweiss Capital, "Apart from measures for industry, there would be announcements pertaining to social infrastructure spending (schemes like NREGA) as well as for the common man."

For the latter, an increase in tax breaks on housing loans and lower taxes could materialise, aimed at encouraging higher consumption. The moot questions that come to the mind are how the government will bridge the revenue shortfalls and whether it will increase taxes for India Inc.