Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Canada keen to boost trade with India

Ajit Jain
India Abroad Correspondent in Toronto

The Canada-India Business Council that is primarily mandated to increase Canadian trade with India has started getting several enquiries from Canadian businessmen now that Canada has normalised its relations with India.

"Oh, now we can do business with India," callers generally exclaim, said C-IBC executive director Murray Jans during an interview on Tuesday.

There were no official restrictions for Canadian companies to do business in India when Canadian sanctions against India remained in vogue, he said.

But it was difficult for him and his organisation to explain to the Canadian businessmen that sanctions have no bearing on doing business in India, he said.

"Their thinking has suddenly changed with one announcement of Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley that Canada is 're-engaging' with India," Jans said.

Kam Rathee, an Indo-Canadian business consultant who is treasurer of C-IBC, said the traders will take an important business delegation to India in fall. The group will comprise five high-profile chief executive officers of established Canadian multinationals to meet with five CEOs of not-so-established Indian companies for 'mentoring.'

C-IBC -- which was established in 1982 under the leadership and initiative of Thomas Bata, president of Bata Shoes -- has over the years gained in importance and has become a primary vehicle in promoting trade between the two countries, Jans said.

Trade partners sought

ICCC is primary geared to promoting interests of its 750-plus paid members. C-IBC, however, is devoted to finding trade partners for its 67 paid corporate members in India. They pay between Cdn$300 to $2,000 annually as membership fee.

ICCC, which will have Ontario Premier Mike Harris as its keynote speaker at the annual gala dinner scheduled for June 23 at the Toronto Convention Center, has also started widening its horizons, said its president Rakesh Goenka.

ICCC has now opened two chapters in Montreal and Ottawa, apart from its headquarters in Toronto. ICCC is emphasising on the participation of youth having already enrolled about 50 of them as paid members.

"Our efforts now are to advance Indo-Canadian profiles to the mainstream," Goenka said.

ICCC Youth Forum was formally launched on May 2 by vice-president of Royal Bank, Jamie Harper, in the presence of many enthusiastic youth.

This forum will focus on serving unique careers and leadership development needs of ICCC youth members, Goenka said.

"We have collectively enhanced the membership value by more than doubling (twenty one events during the current year versus ten during the previous year) ICCC's business, professional and entrepreneurship development activities," he claimed.

C-IBC and ICCC have major corporate sponsors who pay them an annual undisclosed amount and then the money is raised through membership fees, through seminars and other events and C-IBC gets some funding from the Canadian International Development Agency.

These bodies also do some contracting work for Indian companies, said Jans.

C-IBC's principal affiliation in India is with the Confederation of Indian Industries and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Canada-India bilateral trade touched Cdn$1.2 million last year and is projected to increase considerably this year with Canada lifting sanctions against India.

Ministerial traffic begins to rise between India, Canada

Now that Canada has decided to 're-engage' with India, ministerial traffic between the two countries has already started.

India's Power Minister Suresh Prabhu is coming to Toronto next week at the invitation of the Canadian government to participate in a forum in Toronto on 'Reforms and Opportunities in the Indian Power Sector' that is being sponsored the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Canada-India Business Council.

Indian Minister for Commerce Murasoli Maran will travel to Ottawa in July for bilateral trade negotiations, Indian officials said.

Canadian Minister for International Trade Pierre Pettigrew may also go to India soon and Minister for Foreign Affairs John Manley is slated to visit India early next year, sources say.

Prabhu will go to Ottawa also where he's likely to sign an MoU with the Export Development Corporation for a Cdn$75-million deal for power development in India. EDC's condition with regard to this investment is that 50 per cent of the contracted goods and services should be Canadian.

"Recent liberalisation in the power sector including increased private sector participation, improved investment incentives, and relaxation of price control mechanisms have made India an attractive market and investment destination," said Jans.

Opportunities galore in India

Having traveled to India several times as the head of business delegations, Jans said that his efforts during the forum, scheduled for June 8, would be to induce Canadian companies to look to India as there are many opportunities in the power sector.

The Indian economy offers a vast and growing market for the global power industry, he told India Abroad on Tuesday.

Indian demand for power is expected to rise rapidly and the country envisions adding 98,000 MW of capacity during the 10-year period from 1997 to 2007, Jans said.

India is working hard to reform its power sector, both on the national level and on the state level. Extensive power generation and distribution infrastructure are needed to meet the country's projected requirements, he explained.

Money

Business News

Tell us what you think of this report