PM VISIT CHINA

Prime minister went to china. To participate in this event, a 25-member Indian business delegation, comprising heavyweights from the manufacturing and the IT sectors, had arrived in the Chinese Capital ahead of Singh. Indian industry, for its part, has a sense of unease with the engagement so far on the trade front, which has seen bilateral volumes jump to $38.6 billion in 2007 but with a massive deficit of $10 billion against India. Four years ago, the balance of trade was in favour of India, as it registered a surplus of $1.4 billion. The spurt in trade volumes thereafter has rapidly transformed that to a huge and growing deficit, which will not go away in the near future. Reflecting this unease was commerce minister Kamal Nath, who told his Chinese counterpart Chen Deming when they met on January 12 that China and India had substantial trade but this was sustainable only if there was no large trade deficit.