Kamal Nath, minister of commerce and industry, today said widening trade deficit was not a cause for concern as imports were being leveraged to push up exports, especially in the manufacturing sector."We have to leverage imports to push up exports, which also generates incremental employment. It (widening trade deficit) is not a source of worry. At the end of the day, increased imports is helping the manufacturing sector, and is also generating employment," Nath said.Nath said with imports totalling $105 billion in 2004-05, India's total trade was $185 billion, which meant a substantial engagement in global trade."If we have to step up economic activity in the country, it could only happen through increased trade volume," Nath said.Elaborating on how imports could be leveraged, he said the country was importing palm oil from Malaysia."We should look towards increasing our exports to that country and create a win-win situation," he said.
