India sends its largest ever business delegation to Canada with the Commerce Minister, talks will be held on free trade agreement.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal arrived in Canada on Monday (May 25) with an aim to expedite the long-pending free trade agreement between India and Canada. Under his leadership, a 150-member Indian business delegation has also gone to Canada, which is considered to be India’s largest business delegation till date.

This three-day high-level visit is being considered a major step towards finalizing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and Canada by the end of 2026. This economic initiative between the two countries is taking place at a time when there has been a new warmth in bilateral relations in recent months.

The diplomatic thaw in relations between the two countries after the visit of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to India in March 2026 gave a new basis to trade talks. During this time, the terms of reference for the new trade framework were also officially decided.

This large delegation from India includes representatives of leading companies and industry organizations from sectors such as Artificial Intelligence, Critical Minerals, Clean Energy, Aerospace, Pharmaceuticals and Textiles. In fact, due to global economic uncertainties and America’s hyper-realism policies, India is working on a strategy to diversify its international economic partners.

According to Commerce Ministry data, bilateral trade between India and Canada stood at around $8.5 billion in the financial year 2025-26. However, both the countries have now set an ambitious target of increasing this trade to 50 billion dollars i.e. approximately 70 billion Canadian dollars by 2030.

During his visit, Piyush Goyal will participate in several important meetings in Ottawa and Toronto. He is scheduled to hold talks with Canada’s International Trade Minister Maninder Sandhu and Foreign Minister Anita Anand. Apart from this, he is also scheduled to have a courtesy meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

India’s main goal is to strengthen access to Canada’s vast natural resources, to provide a long-term basis for the country’s energy transition strategy. Canada holds a strong position in the fields of oil, gas, critical minerals and advanced mining technology, while India has a huge skilled workforce and manufacturing capacity.

Piyush Goyal said, “Canada is extremely strong in oil, gas, critical minerals and advanced mining, while India has an unmatched skilled workforce and huge manufacturing capacity. We want to increase the number of Canadian companies operating in India from 600 to over 1,000 in the coming years.”

Not only trade but also investment is the main agenda of this visit. Piyush Goyal will also meet the heads of Canada’s major Maple 8 pension funds. India wants to attract long-term investments from these multi-billion dollar funds to accelerate infrastructure projects like highways, green energy grids and digital networks in the country. The Indian government hopes that this will not only give impetus to the trade agreement but will also provide a new direction to the economic relations between the two countries.

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