India and Canada will begin the fifth round of negotiations for the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in Ottawa on October 5, with both sides aiming to conclude the talks by the end of this year, according to a PTI report citing an official.
The five-day round of negotiations is expected to continue until October 9. The fourth round concluded in New Delhi on September 18.
According to PTI, the talks are moving at a faster pace as both countries seek to conclude the negotiations by the end of the calendar year.
The negotiations assume significance as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had said last month that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Canada around December.
To give further impetus to the talks, Canada's Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu is scheduled to visit New Delhi later this month with a 300-member business delegation. Sidhu and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had met in Mumbai last month to review the progress of the negotiations.
A CEPA is a type of free trade agreement under which two countries seek to significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on a large share of traded goods. Such agreements also seek to ease norms for the movement of skilled professionals and promote investments.
India and Canada first launched negotiations for the proposed pact in 2015 and held more than half a dozen rounds of talks between 2015 and 2017 before negotiations were paused.
In March 2022, the two countries relaunched negotiations for an interim agreement, officially called the Early Progress Trade Agreement.
Canada paused the talks again in 2023 after bilateral ties deteriorated following then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegation of a potential Indian link to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India rejected the allegation as "absurd".
The two countries decided in November 2025 to resume formal negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement.
The renewed engagement followed a meeting between Modi and Carney on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Canada, in June last year.
Bilateral trade in goods declined 8.23 per cent to USD 7.95 billion in 2025-26 from USD 8.7 billion in 2024-25, PTI reported.
India's exports to Canada rose 10.63 per cent to USD 4.67 billion during the last fiscal, while imports from Canada fell 26.14 per cent to USD 3.28 billion.
There are around 2.9 million people of Indian origin in Canada and more than 4.27 lakh Indian students.
India's major exports to Canada include pharmaceuticals, iron and steel, seafood, cotton garments, electronic goods and chemicals. Key imports from Canada include pulses, pearls and semi-precious stones, coal, fertilisers, paper and crude petroleum.
India's services exports to Canada are led by telecommunications, computer and information services and other business services.
India received USD 4.8 billion in foreign direct investment from Canada between April 2000 and June 2026.
(With inputs from PTI)