Canadian Investors Showing High Interest in Investment Opportunities in India

India and Canada have maintained a strong bond for ages now, this is mainly driven by its business and person-to-person relationships. However, over the last few years, this relationship has become much stronger encouraging more and more Canadian institutional investors to invest in Indian companies and other ties relating to culture and education as well.

Speaking at the webinar on Canada, Annie Dubé, Consul General of Canada in Mumbai, said, “The total amount of investment both ways is in the tune of 70 billion CAD (Canadian dollars) which includes FDI, portfolio investments, among others.” Dubé was speaking at the first session of the webinar series ‘Financing India’, which was organised by The Free Press Journal and NMIMS in association with InvestIndia.

Other panellists at this session were Shruti Chandra, Senior Assistant Vice President, Invest India and Jaimin Shah, co-founder and managing director of DEV Information Technology Ltd, India and DEV Info-Tech North America Ltd, Canada. The discussions were moderated by RN Bhaskar of FPJ and the opening and closing remarks were made by Dr. Paritosh Basu, Senior professor and chairperson MNA (Law), NMIMS School of Business Management.

Dubé stated, “Canadian companies investing in India are really going bullish about the Indian market. Institutional investors Brookfield and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. alone have invested around 25 billion CAD in India.” Many other Canadian institutional investors are setting up offices in India and their collective investments are estimated at around 45 billion CAD, she revealed.

Meanwhile, Shruti Chandra stated India continues to be a favourite destination for Canadian investors. “Canada today ranks among the top 20 countries investing in India. Canada has invested around USD 2 billion in direct equity inflows into India. In the last three years, USD 1 billion has been invested in India by Canadian companies. This shows the momentum among the investors.” She added that Canadian institutional investors have made significant commitments in India by investing to the tune of USD 30 billion in the last decade, most of which have come in the last five years.

Today, around 600 Canadian companies are actively operating in India across sectors. Canadian companies usually invest in sectors such as services, energy, advanced manufacturing, construction and education.

Jaimin Shah, who has a company in India and Canada, stated, while many IT companies look to the US for expansion, he had opted for Canada. He feels that he took the right decision for his company. “As an entrepreneur and businessperson, you need to explore areas that are less travelled, and Canada is less travelled. I would say that one should grab the opportunity before it becomes the next US.” He lauded the policies and ease of doing business in Canada, especially during this COVID-19 times.