In key Toronto conference, focus on India-Canada trade boost

Canada does as much trade with India in a year as it does in half a week with its northern neighbour, the United States. Despite much talk from both sides, many rounds of talks and ambitious targets of hitting $15 billion by 2015, trade between India and Canada remains around the $8-billion mark.

The Invest India Conference, which returns to Toronto on September 4-5 for its second edition, is the latest nudge towards reinvigorating this economic equation, and the brainchild of Prem Watsa, the prominent Indo-Canadian investor and Chairman and CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings. “Our aim is to intensify and broaden the engagement between Canada and India, on trade, investment, innovation and health care,” he said in a statement, announcing the event.

According to the Canada-India Business Council, or C-IBC, which organises the event, this year’s conference will see an attendance of at least 400, up from 250 last year. It was held on a single day last year, it will be a two-day event this year, with a sponsored dinner added to the programme. Key speakers include Watsa, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, and senior government officials like Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland.

A majority of the participants are expected to be from institutional investors such as IIFL, Brookfield Asset Management, and corporations such as Bombardier and Air Canada. But this year’s conference will go beyond the traditional areas of finance, private equity and infrastructure, according to Kasi Rao, president and CEO of C-IBC.

“One of the newer parts to this year’s conference is from the innovation arena. We’ve got a wide array of universities coming here. That’s where we’re trying to position the wider Indian story in the health, innovation, research arenas,” said Rao, adding, “At the apex of the pyramid is the rise of the new wealth of India, what they are aspiring to, what are their habits and the implications for Canadian organisations, both public and private.”

The conference comes at an eventful time with the uncertainty surrounding NAFTA — Canada’s economic mainstay — notwithstanding ongoing talks among the US, Mexico and Canada. In a symbolic nod to the realisation that Canada needs to diversify its markets from an overwhelming dependence on the US, the federal government recently renamed its ministry of International Trade to that of International Trade Diversification. Rao noted, “Canada is one of the few countries in the world and certainly among the G7 that has an outward-looking posture on issues of trade and investment.”

But bottlenecks remain along the India-Canada corridor. Bilateral talks on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement have dragged on for years. There could be more policy inertia on both sides, with general elections due in both countries next year. But the organisers of the conference are not concerned on that score. According to Rao, he has been getting queries for the past couple of months for C-IBC’s annual business forum, coming up in Mumbai in November, the earliest ever expression of interest in the event. Even Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s much-mocked visit to India this year was positive for the business community, he said. 

“Whatever else happened, on the business to business side there was tremendous engagement,” said Rao, pointing to the participation of Trudeau and “A-list” CEOs from India and Canada at the business forums in Mumbai and New Delhi.

The Invest India Conference hopes to build on this momentum, especially with Watsa’s involvement in the process. “What has been missing up to now on the India file in Canada is having an iconic leader associated with this file on Canadian soil. That has changed dramatically,” said Rao.

As India remains one of the brighter spots for growth among emerging economies, Canadian businesses have taken note. Institutional investors like CPPIB and Brookfield Asset Management are steadily expanding their footprint in India. The number of Canadian companies with a presence in India has grown sharply over the past five years. Air Canada has increased the frequency of its flights from Vancouver. But the objectives of the conference are more long-term. 

“There’s no a-ha moment. It’s more that we need to bring a greater sense of urgency and perspective as the centre of gravity shifts from the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific,” Rao said.