NEW DELHI, Feb 25: India's pre-budget economic survey on Friday projected a seven per cent growth in 2005-06, and indicated far-reaching reforms in tax and expenditure and labour laws as a priority.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will present the 2005-6 budget on Monday. Indian's main opposition parties have decided to boycott the railway budget on Saturday. Identifying agriculture, infrastructure and employment as areas for big-ticket public investment, the 2004-05 survey stressed the need for maintaining low interest and inflation rates and integrating the whole country towards a common market.

The survey, tabled in Parliament, was hard-hitting on the fiscal situation of both the Centre and states and proposed major tax and expenditure reforms, cutting down wasteful subsidies to reduce fiscal and revenue deficits.

To transform Indian manufacturing into globally competitive units, the survey said there was a strong case to revisit the issue of FDI caps in sectors like coal, mining, insurance, real estate and retail trade.

The survey said the growth performance of the Indian economy during 2003-04 and 2004-05 indicated a possible ratcheting up of the trend rate of economic growth from around six per cent to about 7 per cent per year.