A renewed sense of optimism and momentum marked the India-Canada CEO Forum, as business leaders from both nations underscored what they call a “new chapter” in bilateral ties spanning sectors, including AI, quantum technologies, and defence.
Echoing the tone set by the two Prime Ministers of both nations, participants described the engagement as a reboot of relations, with strong emphasis on trade agreements, bilateral investments and measurable outcomes. The India-Canada CEOs Forum, held here in the national capital, saw participation of both Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Mark Carney.
Dheeraj Jain, Founder and Chairman of Redcliffe Labs, highlighted the shared vision driving the partnership.
“Our thoughts are very aligned, I think our values are very aligned. We have to see a continuous growth on each of these sectors. But I think it looks very optimistic today, at least…” he said, reflecting the broader sentiment at the Forum.
Joby John, Founder and CEO of Techversant Infotech, pointed to recent progress in ties. John said that the last few months have been great and the relationship is getting better, and the governments are supporting it.
“Definitely, we expect a big improvement in the sales, and definitely India and Canada can be very good partners in the IT and maybe the AI and quantum technologies and all…” Joby John noted.
Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), outlined key discussion areas. “…we spoke a lot about the opportunities of bilateral investments, investments into India. Today, India is attracting so many investments in different areas. Third, a very interesting area that came up was how to get Indian states and the Canadian provinces to work with each other. And fourth, a very quick conclusion of the CEPA. Fifth, a number of areas from defence to agriculture, where we talked about collaboration. So it was just a phenomenal start and a reboot to the relationship…” he said.
Girish Tanti, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Suzlon Energy Limited, described the engagement as a turning point. “What has been concluded largely today is that this is the start of a new chapter between the countries. We are reigniting the relationship. This is the beginning of the new journey. We will be following up with a similar CEO forum in Canada in the coming time, and both countries have agreed to set a pace to develop our trade agreement going ahead…” he stated.
Veejay Ram Nakra, President of Mahindra & Mahindra’s Farm Equipment Business, emphasized structured follow-up. “We also had an opportunity to debrief the two Prime Ministers on the topics that we spoke about and with all the support that we’ve got from CII and the Canada Business Forum, the two countries along with the support from them will move forward to identify smaller working groups so that we’ll be able to take this agenda forward, get the agreement signed between the two countries and look at also how we can partner in terms of bilateral investment between the two countries going forward,” he said.
Richa Hukumchand, Founder and CEO of Pramatra Space, framed the partnership in the context of global uncertainty. “This is the start of the new era where, given the kind of trade uncertainties that are happening globally, building resilience and building partnerships with countries, and especially with Canada, will build a sustainable economic and an innovative future for our country…” she remarked.
Indra Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of Avanti Feeds Limited, stressed technological complementarity. “Prime Minister has said very well, the cooperation between India and Canada is really going off well and the cooperation between the technology that Canada has and what the capacities that India have together will go a long way and for the food processing sector and the food safety of the people, it would help a lot,” he said.
Goldy Hyder, CEO and President of the Business Council of Canada, underscored the role of industry. “It shows alignment, but I also believe very strongly in what Prime Minister Modi said that at the end of the day, the role of governments is to build the policy infrastructure, the trade enabling infrastructure from a policy perspective. But ultimately, it is businesses that need to cross, to get across that bridge and we’re excited about what’s going on both here in India but also in Canada, where we certainly would welcome Indian capital…” he stated.
Preeti Bajaj, CEO and Managing Director of Luminous Power Technologies, identified clean energy as a priority. “One of the focus areas emerged to be clean energy, tech and specifically looking at what’s possible in battery energy storage systems from supply chain standpoint as well as product formulation and technology innovation standpoint, including innovative financial business models was one of the key areas we discussed today. If I had to sum up today as a whole, taking a holistic view, I would say that there are three P’s that sum it up. One is partnership, the second is platform, and finally, it’s really about performance. The focus on measurable results of this particular comprehensive agreement in time as well as actual in the impact of economy is something we all look forward to…” she said.
Sourabh Agarwal, Chairman and Managing Director of Farm Native Group, pointed to ambitious bilateral trade goals of USD 50 billion by 2030.
“…in the area of agriculture, nuclear energy, clean energy and in the area of AI and we have been looking for collaborating with the Canadian counterpart for agriculture and healthcare…” he noted.
Summing up the sentiment, Rajat Verma, CEO of the India-Canada CEO Forum, said, “I think we are very optimistic about the trade partnership. The two prime ministers set the tone very well. I think this is the beginning of India-Canada 2.0. We hope to get this partnership effected by the industry. The government can set the framework, the policy, but it’s up to industry to go and actually do some real strategic partnership.”
