Boosting exports and cutting imports key to India's strength: Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday  said India will have to increase its exports and reduce imports to emerge as a stronger nation in the global community.

Addressing an international conference on Vision 2047 Prosperous and Great Bharat, Gadkari suggested that the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the US was a "blessing in disguise" for India as newer markets are now opening up for the domestic industry.

"If you want to make villages prosperous and the nation stronger, one thing is clear we have to increase our exports and reduce imports. I would not take the name of any country, but whatever is happening today, it is a blessing in disguise for us," he said, in an apparent reference to the tariffs imposed by the US.

Gadkari said the Indian sugar industry received an order of 1,000 containers from the US.

"These are the ways if someone faces a loss, someone else profits. It is a plain case of demand and supply," the minister said.