A delegation of close to 300 business representatives, travelling under the leadership of Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu, is set to visit Mumbai and Bengaluru from Monday — a mission Ottawa has described as its most extensive trade outreach to India in more than three decades, unfolding as both governments work toward finalising a bilateral trade agreement before the year ends.

Global Affairs Canada announced that the Team Canada Trade Mission is scheduled to take place between October 12 and 17. The statement noted that the nearly 300 business delegates accompanying Sidhu would seek meetings with decision makers, industry figures, and prospective clients, with the aim of broadening commercial ties and opening new partnerships. Sidhu separately indicated that pairing Canadian strengths in aerospace, agri-food, and clean technology with demand from one of the world's most rapidly expanding economies was intended to widen trade channels and draw fresh investment back home.

He described the approach as the pathway through which bilateral trade with India would reach $70 billion by 2030, a figure representing more than twice the current level.

Represented across the group are firms operating in aerospace and space, clean technologies and energy transition, information and communication technologies, life sciences, and agri-food, the statement noted. Forestry and wood products feature among the priority sectors identified for the mission by the Trade Commissioner Service, whose programming for the initiative encompasses business-to-business meetings, on-site visits, and briefings delivered by Canadian trade commissioners.

Talks under the Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement framework had reached their fifth round when negotiators gathered in Ottawa between October 5 and 9, and it is from that backdrop that the mission takes its context. No details from that round have been made public by either government.

On the sidelines of the G20 Trade Ministers' Meeting in Milwaukee, a gathering that fell on October 1, Sidhu and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a face-to-face meeting at which the state of the ongoing talks came under joint review.

Conducting talks with multiple partners at the same time — the United States among them — India finds itself navigating those conversations alongside a backdrop of trade-tariff disputes and ongoing purchases of Russian oil that have complicated its relationship with Washington. Over the coming decade, the country has set a target of doubling the share of its exports directed toward markets outside the United States, a goal shaped by ongoing trade tensions with the Trump administration.

Figures from the Canadian government put the combined value of goods and services exchanged between Canada and India at C$30.4 billion across 2025. Exports from Canada to India reached C$3.9 billion, with vegetables, mineral fuels and oils, and wood pulp accounting for the bulk of outbound shipments, while goods flowing in the opposite direction totalled C$9.7 billion, driven by precious stones and metals, machinery, and pharmaceutical products.

Figures from the statement put Canadian direct investment flowing into India at C$11.4 billion for 2025, while the corresponding flow of Indian direct investment into Canada came to C$9.7 billion over the same period. Figures from Export Development Canada put the combined India-related holdings of Canadian pension funds and asset managers at roughly C$108 billion as of 2025.

Organised by the Trade Commissioner Service within Global Affairs Canada, these government-led business delegations travel under the Team Canada banner to open foreign market doors for Canadian firms, with smaller and medium-sized enterprises among the primary intended beneficiaries. Trade talks between Canada and India over a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement found renewed momentum after Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Indian counterpart took joint action to mend a diplomatic relationship that had deteriorated in 2023.