Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu, left, and India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal meet before a bilateral meeting in Ottawa on Monday.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Around 150 business leaders from India concluded a three-day mission in Toronto this week, as trade talks between Ottawa and New Delhi pick up steam after a major political reset.
The delegation, led by Piyush Goyal, India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, included dozens of companies across a range of industries such as financial services, agriculture, steel and pharmaceuticals.
This was “the largest-ever delegation to leave the shores of India,” Mr. Goyal said at an event in Toronto on Tuesday.
The mission was the latest effort to deepen business ties between Canada and India, as both countries look to diversify their trading relationships in the face of a highly protectionist United States.
Prime Minister Mark Carney visited India in March to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and business leaders in Mumbai. The two countries resumed negotiations last year over a free-trade deal – which have been on-again-off-again since 2010 – and are aiming to sign a deal by the end of this year.
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Mr. Goyal, who met Mr. Carney in Ottawa earlier this week, said the Canadian Prime Minister now wants the deal struck by the end of November.
“Don’t be surprised if they actually can deliver even faster than targeted,” Mr. Goyal said.
Victor Thomas, president and chief executive of the Canada-India Business Council, said he felt encouraged by the size of the mission and the enthusiasm from the Indian delegation.
“If March was a reset, this is a resurgence to a level we’ve not seen before,” Mr. Thomas said.
Mr. Thomas said that changing geopolitical conditions, U.S. tariffs and the energy crisis caused by the Iran war have brought Canada and India closer together. He said the “complementarity” of each country’s strengths is now driving the momentum of the relationship forward.
Goods trade between the two countries is still limited; Canada exported $3.9-billion worth of goods to India in 2025 and imported $9.7-billion. Exports were mostly commodities such as lentils, potash and coal. Imports from India were led by pharmaceuticals, diamonds and jewellery.
Services exports are larger, but have been concentrated in education, which Ottawa has been restricting by limiting international students in recent years.
Mr. Thomas said partnerships in defence, agriculture and research could be important opportunities for Canadian businesses going forward.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands following the presentation of agreements and joint statements in New Delhi, India on Monday, March 2, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian WyldAdrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The two countries did not explore partnering on defence prior to the meeting in March, Mr. Thomas said. He added that such a relationship would be particularly important for Canada because of its NATO commitment to spending 5 per cent of its GDP on defence by 2035.
“There should be a much greater partnership … and now we’re starting to see conviction and movement towards it,” he said.
Mr. Carney’s March visit resulted in a key $2.6-billion agreement with Cameco Corp. to supply uranium to India for power generation from 2027 to 2035.
Mr. Goyal sounded optimistic in his remarks, saying that going forward, deeper economic ties could also lead to closer political ties.
“The political reset will build on the economic reset,” he said.
Trade negotiations had been suspended in 2023 after the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a B.C. Sikh activist, whose death led to the expulsion of diplomats in both countries.
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Mr. Goyal said that Mr. Carney’s visit in March reset the relationship. Yet, tensions continued to bubble this week as delegates arrived. In an interview with The Globe and Mail on Tuesday, Indian High Commissioner to Canada Dinesh Patnaik alleged that Canadian security forces have been “compromised.”
The two-day trade engagement in Toronto between Canadian and Indian business leaders was hosted by Canada’s Minister of International Trade, Maninder Sidhu, and was preceded by a meeting between him and Mr. Goyal in Ottawa on Monday.
In their remarks, the ministers reaffirmed their goal of doubling the value of bilateral trade between Canada and India to $70-billion by 2030.
India has historically been protectionist, but has shifted its approach in recent years. In the past two years, India has struck trade agreements with a number of other developed economies such as Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the European Union.
Mr. Sidhu will be taking his own delegation of Canadian businesspeople to India for a trade mission in November.