NEW DELHI / OTTAWA — Relations between Canada and India are improving at a rapid pace and negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) are nearing a conclusion, according to an article published by the Business Council of Canada and reported by IANS on Wednesday, October 21.

The article said the momentum should allow the two leaders to conclude the negotiations during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Canada in December. Modi is scheduled to visit Canada on December 11-12, the High Commission of India in Ottawa announced earlier this month after a phone conversation between Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, in which both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to concluding CEPA negotiations at the earliest opportunity and to doubling bilateral trade by 2030.

The Business Council article described the CEPA as an important achievement that features regularly in discussions among Canadian and Indian business leaders, but said it should be viewed as the beginning, not the end, of the bilateral journey. Parallel negotiations are ongoing for a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, and Canadian businesses remain deeply interested in stronger investment protections, making an investment treaty the logical next priority once the CEPA is concluded, it said. It also highlighted Mumbai, India's financial hub, as poised to play an important role in the next stage of economic relations.

Five rounds of CEPA negotiations have been completed, the latest in Ottawa from October 5 to 9, covering market access for goods and services, investment, rules of origin, intellectual property and trade remedies, with the next round expected in New Delhi in early November, according to an explainer by India's World. Canadian government data puts two-way merchandise trade at C$13.6 billion in 2025 — yaani about 13.6 arab Canadian dollars — while both sides have expressed an ambition to raise annual bilateral trade to C$70 billion by 2030.

The trade push was visible on the ground last week: Canada's International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu led nearly 300 delegates to Mumbai and Bengaluru in what Global Affairs Canada called the largest Team Canada trade mission to India in 30 years, delivering 34 commercial agreements worth close to $300 million — yaani about 30 crore dollars. For the large Punjabi and Indian diaspora in Canada, a concluded CEPA would mean a more predictable framework for business, investment and professional movement between the two countries, though the agreement has not yet been signed and sensitive issues remain under negotiation. Sources: IANS (Oct 21, 2026) reporting the Business Council of Canada article; Global Affairs Canada statement (Oct 16, 2026); High Commission of India in Ottawa announcement via Times of India; India's World CEPA explainer.