India and Canada Set to Finalize Terms of Reference for Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

India and Canada are likely to finalise the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) during the visit of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to India early next month. The ToR establishes the framework, scope, objectives, and procedures for the negotiations. The signing of ToR is the first step for negotiations to begin. It is the third attempt by both countries to negotiate the CEPA. The negotiations on CEPA with Canada were first started in 2010 but could not make much progress. The negotiations were relaunched in March 2022 before being abandoned in August-September of 2023 due to political differences. The repair of the breach started with the election of Carney as Prime Minister in March last year. India and Canada agreed to re-start negotiations on a “high-ambition” CEPA at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Carney on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Johannesburg in November 2025 The agreement will cover trade in goods and services, investment, agriculture and agri-food, digital trade, mobility and sustainable development. Through the agreement both sides aim at doubling bilateral trade to $ 50 billion by 2030. Goods and services between the two countries stood at $23.66 billion in 2024, with merchandise trade valued at nearly $8.98 billion, and the rest coming from services. In 2024-25 India’s goods exports to Canada were up 9.80% to $ 4.22 billion while imports from Canada fell 2.3% to $ 4.44 billion. In April-December of 2025-26 bilateral merchandise trade stood at $ 5.8 billion with India’s exports growing 8.4% to $ 3.38 billion and imports contracting 31.4% to $ 2.41 billion. Major items of India’s exports to Canada include pharmaceutical products, electronic goods, jewelry, gems & precious stones, seafood (shrimps), engineering goods and auto parts. Indiaʼs major imports from Canada include minerals, pulses, potash, paper and paperboard, wood pulp, iron and aluminum scrap and gemstones. While FDI from Canada stands at $ 4.2 billion, portfolio investments have crossed $ 75 billion.