The world's biggest nations, China and India, are widely perceived to be battling it out for economic and strategic supremacy.

But India's commerce and industry minister says his country is not interested in a race with its giant Asian neighbour.

On a recent visit to Australia, Kamal Nath was also playing down Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's reversal of his predecessor's pledge to sell uranium to India, a move which prompted accusations that Mr Rudd had mishandled relations between the two countries. Jim Middleton speaks to Kamal Nath in Melbourne.

Jim Middleton, Presenter: Minister, thanks very much for your time.

Kevin Rudd, the new Australian Prime Minister, has clearly indicated that Australia would not sell uranium to India in part because India is not a signatory of the non-proliferation treaty. How disappointed is India in that pre-emptive action by Mr Rudd?

Kamal Nath, Indian Minister for Commerce and Industry: I don't think there's any level of disappointment because India has other sources for uranium as and when it needs it. So when it's not as yet made a request to Australia to buy, there can be no sense of disappointment.

India is not ready to become a buyer at this point of time.

Jim Middleton: Do you think that Australia has, to a certain degree, missed opportunities in India?

It sometimes seems that Australia's cricketers were quicker off the mark in recognising the importance of India as a nation than our businesses and our governments?

Kamal Nath: Well business and government is not following cricket and cricket is not following business and cricket.

But it is true that the India reform story has started to unfold in Australia now and between my last visit three years ago and now, I see a dramatic change where there's much more desire of investing in India, of engaging with India than it was three years ago.

India's reform story is not as old as some of the reform stories of other Asian countries, who have many, many years lead. So with this unfolding now I think we shouldn't call the past lost time, but if it is lost time I'm sure it's going to be made up in any case.

Jim Middleton: Is there are a view in India that Australia, in terms of trade, has been paying too much attention to China?

It's been an obsession of Australian governments going back nearly 30 years trade with China, there certainly seems to me not to have been the same emphasis on India?

"When India's engagement with the global economy was not much Australia couldn't possibly be focusing on India."

Kamal Nath: Well, the emphasis on India can only happen now in the last 10 years after India started engaging with the global economy. When India's engagement with the global economy was not much, Australia couldn't possibly be focusing on India.

But now I do see a great focus in Australia, the Australian business community and the Australian polity focusing on India. So I think this is the moment, the moment has come. Maybe the moment hadn't come earlier.

Jim Middleton: Talking about the moment coming, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has already visited China, he's visited the United States, he's about to go to Japan and Indonesia. Do you think that it would be wise to add India to that list?

Kamal Nath: Well, he's very welcome in India and our governments are working out dates for his visit. So we are looking forward to whenever the dates are tied up.

Jim Middleton: Is there a view in Delhi that Australia and particularly Mr Rudd is too close to China, too much of a Sinophile?

Kamal Nath: I don't think so. Perhaps because people think he knows Mandarin and he doesn't know Hindi. But there are many more people in India who know English than Chinese who know English. So that makes no difference.

Jim Middleton: When Mr Rudd came to power one of the first things he did was to unilaterally end Australia's role in the so called quadrilateral talks, security talks between the United States, India, Japan and Australia. How bad a sign was that, do you think?

Kamal Nath: Look, there are so many forums of discussions which we have now and that was one of them and there are many others to supplement that.

Now we've been having discussions in the East Asia summit and with the multifarious forums this really makes little difference. So it's not a matter of concern as such and I don't think it was a signal in any sense.

Jim Middleton: India's been growing very strongly for a decade or more. Can this be sustained into the future? Wht is the Government doing to ensure that the bubble doesn't burst, if I can put it that way?

"We do see growth in India in excess of eight per cent."

Kamal Nath: Well to start of with there's no bubble which is to burst in India. Despite the global economic outlook, which is perceived to be bleak, we do see growth in India in excess of eight per cent, a consistent growth because of the economic momentum driven by the strong fundamentals. The ingredients of that growth are very strong.

These fundamentals of investment, savings ratios to GDP, manufacturing sector growth, India's trade, India's foreign exchange reserves, all these strong fundamentals only point to a direction that this is going to be sustained.

Jim Middleton: If this growth is sustained, as you suggest, India and indeed China will supplant the United States as the world's biggest economies, is that India's goal and who's going to come out on top? China or India?

Kamal Nath: We are not looking at this in terms of a race.

We are looking at it in terms of progress and development of our one point one billion people and obviously that means GDP growth, it means moving from a $1 trillion to $2 trillion.

So it's not looked at, we don't look at it in terms of being number one, two or three as long as we have a sustainable growth, which continues and our growth remains all inclusive.

Jim Middleton: And you're confident that this growth can be sustained, and trade as well, without this rivalry, without the competition between India and China spilling over into conflict?

Kamal Nath: Well, we have a great trade relationship with China. We compete with China and China has its own genius, we have our own genius.

Jim Middleton: Indeed, Minister, and thank you very, very much for your time.