Negotiations toward a bilateral free trade agreement are under way between India and Canada, with a target of concluding talks before the close of 2026, as the Canadian side has assembled its largest trade delegation to visit India in over thirty years. A trade delegation of close to 300 business representatives from Canada is accompanying Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu on a tour taking in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru between 12 and 17 October, Global Affairs Canada has confirmed.
Scheduled ahead of a December trip by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Canada — a visit that Prime Minister Mark Carney's office has indicated will go forward — the mission represents an early step in renewed engagement between the two countries. According to remarks Carney made the previous month, both leaders were working toward concluding negotiations before the G20 gathering in Miami, pencilled in for mid-December.
Under the proposed pact, bilateral commerce between the two sides is projected to reach $50 billion before the decade closes in 2030. Global Affairs Canada puts Canada's own benchmark at C$70 billion, a threshold set for achievement by 2030. Combined goods-and-services exchange between the two countries reached C$30.4 billion in 2025, with both administrations setting a target of more than doubling that figure before 2030.
When unveiling the $50 billion target in March, Modi placed bilateral trade at close to $9 billion for 2024–25, a figure drawn from reporting by an established broadcast outlet. Measured against the $8.7 billion recorded twelve months prior, combined merchandise trade across both directions settled at $7.95 billion — a contraction of roughly 8.23 per cent. Outbound shipments to Canada climbed 10.63 per cent over the 2025–26 period, reaching $4.67 billion, whereas the value of goods arriving from Canada contracted by 26.14 per cent to settle at $3.28 billion.
Data from the Indian High Commission in Ottawa points to a broad range of goods flowing from India into the Canadian market, spanning pharmaceuticals, machinery parts, iron and steel, electronics, organic chemicals, jewellery, clothing and textiles, seafood, engineering goods, and auto parts. Among the goods flowing into India from Canada are pulses, potash and other fertilisers, mineral fuels, wood pulp, diamonds, components for aircraft, paper, and scrap metal.
Two-way services trade between the pair totalled C$19.62 billion across calendar year 2025, with India's side of the ledger showing C$15.17 billion flowing inward as purchases and C$4.45 billion heading outward as exports. Telecommunications, computer and information services, along with other business services, account for the bulk of what India sends Canada in the services trade.
Portfolio investment flows from Canada into India are pegged by the High Commission at upwards of C$100 billion, with the body also noting that more than 600 Canadian firms maintain an operational footprint in the country. Roughly C$108 billion in committed capital ties Canadian pension funds to India, positioning the country as a long-horizon destination for that pool of institutional investment.
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters in May that the agreement was expected to open doors for companies operating in the textile and leather sectors. The statement also identified energy and critical minerals as areas the agreement was intended to address. Goyal indicated that a shared objective between the two countries involves expanding the number of Canadian businesses with a presence in India from roughly 600 to around 1,000.
Talks between the two leaders in March put a spotlight on broadening commodity flows spanning LNG, LPG, crude oil, refined petroleum products, potash, and uranium. Petroleum products in refined form were among the subjects of trade talks held between India and Canada during March. A uranium supply agreement worth C$2.6 billion was reached between Cameco and the Indian government.
An memorandum of understanding on access to raw materials used in battery and clean-energy manufacturing was formalised between the two nations that March. In remarks carried by a news outlet that November, Sidhu conveyed that Canada holds the full range of components required for electric battery production and that the government in Ottawa is open to investment from India in the mining of critical minerals.
According to Sidhu, the aviation sector will require upwards of 2,000 new aircraft over the next several years. A proposal from Canada spanning aerospace, defence, and space drew support from India for a business delegation in those sectors. The statement from Global Affairs Canada noted that clean technology, information and communication technology, and life sciences companies are among the sectors represented on the mission.
Mitali Nikore, founder and chief economist at Nikore Associates, put forward the view that a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries could generate mutual benefits, pointing to what she described as structural complementarities between their respective economies. Nikore argued that the C$2.6 billion uranium arrangement aligns with India's plan to reach 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047, while Canadian LNG and critical minerals would broaden the range of sources available for energy and manufacturing supply chains.
Nikore also argued that uranium, LNG, critical minerals, and forest products are areas where India stands as a long-term purchaser, and that the country could help buffer Canada against US tariff exposure in those sectors. She also identified aerospace, clean technology, and ICT as fields where India's expanding economy presents growing commercial openings. Nikore's separate assessment — that the United States, which absorbed 71.7 per cent of Canadian goods exports in 2025, holds a trade position India is not positioned to fill — was put forward as an analytical assessment rather than an established fact.
Tariff-related announcements have prompted both nations to pursue trade relationships that rely less heavily on the United States, according to a broadcast news outlet. The freer movement of people and commerce, a joint statement released in May noted, underpins the push to deepen trade and investment flows.
Sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals and steel through to seafood, garments, and auto parts stand to benefit should tariff levels fall, with neither party having disclosed its negotiating position, meaning the allocation each group stands to receive remains a projection rather than a confirmed result. Mobility gains in the movement of workers and professionals could open up revenue opportunities for service-sector companies, IT providers among them. According to Nikore, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, garments, seafood, and electronics from India stand to reach a high-income consumer base of more than 41 million people under the agreement, while a dedicated services chapter opens doors for IT firms operating out of the country.
A 30 per cent levy on yellow pea imports took effect on 1 November 2025, a move attributed to pressure from domestic farming communities seeking protection against lower-priced foreign supply, news reports indicate. No country takes in more yellow peas from abroad than India, drawing its supplies primarily from Canadian and Russian sources. According to documentation from the High Commission, pulses hold the distinction of being the first agricultural commodity listed for import into India from Canada, with the same body pointing to a Canada-India Pulse Protein Centre of Excellence established at NIFTEM in Kundli during March.
Diplomatic talks were put on hold in 2023 after relations between the two countries deteriorated following statements by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pointing to a possible Indian government role in the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a broadcaster reported. Formal negotiations between the two nations resumed following an agreement reached in November 2025.
