New Delhi: Terming it as unfortunate, India today (June 8, 2004) hit out at the backlash against Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) saying it was ironic that the country, which was in the forefront of free and liberal trade was resorting to legislations to ban it.

"This is unfortunate. It is ironic that countries which used to be in the forefront of free, open and liberal trade are now even passing legislations to hinder BPO," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told US-India Business Council's 29th Annual meeting via video conferencing.

Nath quoted authoritative studies to say that outsourcing was in fact a win-win situation. While India gained in terms of employment, developed economies benefited in terms of profit.

"If something is mutually beneficial, it would be irrational to block it. BPO is not the only emerging area for India's strengths, there are a host of other sectors where we welcome to invest and we can focus on," he said.