Shaking off diplomatic ice, India and Canada on Monday started the second round of negotiations for a free trade agreement, aimed at increasing bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030. The two sides are hoping to conclude the pact by the year-end, signalling an uptick in bilateral engagement.
“The five-day talks between the two negotiating teams for the India-Canada CEPA started in New Delhi on Monday. The attempt is to fast-track talks so that the pact can be concluded by the year-end as decided by the Prime Ministers earlier this year,” a person tracking the meeting told businessline.
The meeting is also likely to set the tone for Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s visit to Canada later this month, heading a business delegation.
The first round of negotiations for the pact, officially called the India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), took place in March this year following Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
The summit meeting was key to the resetting of ties that had hit rock bottom in 2023 when former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau accused Indian authorities of being involved in the murder of Canadian Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
“The leaders expressed confidence that a comprehensive trade framework would serve as a durable economic anchor for the partnership and support the shared aspiration of expanding bilateral trade to CAD 70 billion / INR 4.65 lakh crore by 2030. They welcomed the finalisation and signing of the Terms of Reference for CEPA negotiations and the launch of formal negotiations and expressed their shared commitment to conclude the talks by the end of 2026,” per a joint statement issued after Carney’s meeting with Modi in March.
India-Canada bilateral trade in goods was at $8.66 billion in 2024-25, while India’s exports to the country were at $4.22 billion.
Major items of India’s exports to Canada include pharmaceutical products, machinery parts & mechanical appliances, iron & steel articles, electronic goods, organic chemicals, jewellery, gems & precious stones, clothing & textile articles, seafood, engineering goods and auto parts. India’s major imports from Canada include pulses, fertilisers (potash), mineral fuels, wood pulp, gems & precious stones (diamonds), aircraft parts, machinery parts, paper & paperboard and iron & aluminium scrap.
India’s main services sector exports include telecommunications, computer and information services, and other business services.
Published on May 4, 2026