India, Canada to resume FTA talks; both sides target $50 billion trade by 2030

India and Canada have agreed to restart negotiations on a long-pending free trade agreement, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday, marking the first major step in reviving economic engagement after relations hit a diplomatic low last year.

Goyal said the two sides would begin talks on a "high-ambition" Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the goal of raising bilateral trade to USD 50 billion by 2030.

"We have agreed to begin negotiations on a high-ambition CEPA and double the trade between the two nations by 2030," Goyal said at an event in New Delhi, noting that an FTA is a "demonstration of the trust" between India and Canada. He said the pact would boost investor confidence and provide a stronger framework for businesses on both sides.

Goyal outlined areas where India sees scope for deeper cooperation. "There is a lot that we can learn from Canada and a lot we can offer Canada," he said, pointing to critical minerals, processing technologies, nuclear energy collaboration and supply chain diversification. On uranium engagement with Canada, he said, "There is a good possibility on nuclear energy — particularly with our engagement with Canada on Uranium supplies."

Talks were previously paused in 2023 after then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged a potential Indian link to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar - an accusation New Delhi rejected as "absurd." The fresh push to revive the CEPA comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held discussions with Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G7 summit at Kananaskis in June.

Over half a dozen rounds of negotiations have been held since the process was relaunched in March 2022 under an interim framework called the Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA). 

After a muted year of trade, India's exports to Canada rose 9.8 per cent to USD 4.22 billion in 2024-25, while imports fell 2.33 per cent to USD 4.44 billion. Bilateral trade in goods and services stood at USD 18.38 billion in 2023. Canada also hosts about 2.9 million people of Indian origin and over 427,000 Indian students.

Goyal said he has held two rounds of talks with Canada's Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development Maninder Sidhu, including at the India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment earlier this month. He said newer areas such as AI, quantum computing, machine learning and data centres could be major pillars of future cooperation. "We can focus on emerging technologies like AI… where India has very strategic benefits to offer," he said.

The minister called for "actionable outcomes, a game plan, a sectoral roadmap, and measurable progress," and urged the revival of the CEO forum in the first quarter of 2026. He also said the ACITI (Australia-Canada-India Technology and Innovation) partnership should be advanced with "all seriousness."

He added that both sides could identify priority areas such as critical minerals, critical energy, aerospace, defence and manufacturing in India. "We can diversify our supply chains on both sides."

(With inputs from PTI)