India-Canada business at stake amid diplomatic row, it’s worth Rs…

Bilateral trade between India and Canada was $8.3 billion in the financial year 2022-23.

New Delhi: The relations between India and Canada have hit a rough patch due to the diplomatic tension between the two countries over the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.

Both the countries have recalled and expelled the other countries’ diplomats.

Apart from the diplomatic repercussions, this issue has the potential to hurt the business and trade between India and Canada which worth Rs 70,000 crore including import and export between the two countries.

Think tank GTRI said on Monday, October 14, that the diplomatic tension between India and Canada has so far had no impact on the bilateral trade between the two countries, says a PTI report.

However, it would not be wrong to say that as this dispute progresses, both the countries will have to carefully manage the worsening economic conditions because imports and exports between the two countries have increased continuously. Bilateral trade between India and Canada was $8.3 billion in the financial year 2022-23, which increased to $8.4 billion (about Rs 70,611 crore) in FY2023-24.

At present there is no impact on business

The report also says that India’s imports from Canada have increased to $4.6 billion while there has been a slight decline in exports to $3.8 billion. In such a situation, it can be said that the tension between the two countries has not had much impact on business at present.

However, such possibilities cannot be ruled out that if tensions increase further in the coming days, business may also be affected. Let us tell you here that the Canadian Pension Fund has invested about Rs 6 lakh crore in India and about 600 Canadian companies are doing their business in India.

According to a report by AsiaPacific.ca, from 2013 to 2023, the bulk of investments made by Canadian pension funds in India have been in real estate (more than 3.8 billion Canadian dollars), financial services (more than 3 billion Canadian dollars), industrial transportation (about 2.6 billion Canadian dollars) and huge investments have also been made in infrastructure and renewable energy sectors.

Indian companies are providing thousands of jobs in Canada

According to a report released last year by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), more than 30 Indian firms have a presence in Canada and the investment made by them in the country is worth Rs 40,446 crore.

More than 17,000 people have got employment through these companies. R&D expenditure by these companies was also said to be 700 million Canadian dollars.