New Delhi: India today (Feb 16, 2004) voiced concern to the US over the ban on outsourcing services from the country and said it would be difficult to open up the domestic agricultural market.

"It is strange that on the one hand, people are talking about opening of market, and on the other hand, banning Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Our agriculture is fragile, as it is not subsidised like in the US," Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after an hour-long meeting with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in New Delhi.

He said both sides exchanged views over the stalemate after the failure of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks at Cancun.

"We also talked about areas like services and manufacturing," Jaitley said.