Mr. Kamal Nath is the Minister for Commerce and Industry with Cabinet Rank. He is also concurrently the General Secretary of the Indian National Congress and a Member of the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision making body of the Congress Party, which leads the United Progressive Alliance (UPA ) Government.

He joined the Indian National Congress in 1968 as a Youth Worker, and was elected to Parliament from the Chhindwara constituency for the first time in 1980. He has subsequently won Parliamentary elections from the same constituency again in 1985, 1989, 1991, 1998, 1999 and 2004. Chhindwara, situated in India's largest state of Madhya Pradesh, is predominantly a tribal district having large tracts of lush tropical forests.

As a Member of Parliament Mr. Kamal Nath represented India in the United Nations General Assembly in 1982 and 1983. He also attended the International Parliamentary Union Congerences held in Nicaragua (1987), Guatemala (1988) and Cyprus (1990). For sometime he served on the Board of Directors of the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), a Government of India Undertaking.

Mr. Kamal Nath was first inducted into the Union Council of Ministers as Minister of Environment & Forests in June 1991. During his tenure Mr. Nath made a remarkable contribution to the enunciation and development of the National Policy on Ecological Conservation and the Abatement of Pollution. His policy initiatives include establishment of Environment Tribunals, the concept of Environment Audit, special measures for the further protection and conservation of wildlife - fauna as well as flora, and the establishment of Environment Brigades and Afforestation Brigades so as to enthuse the youth in the country, and involve them, as well as many Non-Governmental Organizations, in active participation in the conservation of the environment. The afforestation and development of degraded wastelands in India was taken up on a massive scale under his stewardship. He enunciated global concepts on Environmental Tariffs and conceptualized Global Emission Quotas.

As Minister, Mr. Kamal Nath led the Indian Delegation to the World Forestry Conference in Paris (1991), the UNEP Governing Council meeting in Nairobi, the PREPCOM IV discussions in New York and the Kuala Lumpur Conference, all in 1992. He hosted the SAARC Environment Ministers Conference in New Delhi and emerged as one of the chief spokesmen for developing countries at the UNCED in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. Mr. Nath has also led national delegations to Finland, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Dubai and UK as also to UNCTAD and UNEP.

 Following this, he was Textile Minister. During his tenure the country touched new heights in production & export of Cotton. The New Textile policy was successfully launched to achieve an all time high exports  of garments & fabrics.

Mr. Nath was educated at the prestigious Doon School in Dehra Dun, and subsequently obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Commerce from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta. Mr. Kamal Nath is interested in a variety of sports.

Mr. Kamal Nath has a keen interest in welfare issues, particularly tribal uplift and rural development. He is also President of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad; Chairman, Madhya Pradesh Child Development Council; and Patron, Bharat Yuvak Samaj (Youth Wing of All India Bharat Seva Samaj).