The Indian economy, Asia's third largest, is expected to grow more than seven per cent in the year to March, 2004 on the back of good rains, a top finance ministry official said on Wednesday.

The strong growth projections come as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party are gearing up for key state polls in December and national elections in 2004.

The Indian economy grew 5.7 per cent in the April-June quarter of fiscal 2003/04 and economists expect it to surge further with bumper crops forecast after the best monsoon in five years.

"If you have a bumper harvest and agricultural GDP goes up because of the forward and backward linkages, it is eminently possible, we are pushing above seven percent," Ashok Lahiri, adviser to the finance ministry, told a new conference.

The expected seven per cent figure will be the strongest full year growth in almost three years after the country's worst drought in 15 years dragged growth down to 4.3 percent last year.