Finance minister holds pre-budget talks with Congress

India's finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday held pre-budget discussions with leaders of the ruling Congress party ahead of the budget for full fiscal year 2009/10 that would be presented on July 6. As part of the pre-budget exercise the Finance Minister customarily holds parleys with various stakeholders, state finance ministers, industrialist groups, leading economists, trade unionists and officials of various financial sectors.