The Indian Panorama

Tag: Rakesh Kantaria

  • BC Premier to visit India before PM Mark Carney

    BC Premier to visit India before PM Mark Carney

    After the overwhelming response to the Canadian Hindu Chamber of Commerce in Assam, UP, and Haryana, BC Premier will lead a delegation to India

    TORONTO (TIP): After a 20-member mission of the Canadian Hindu Chamber of Commerce (CHCC) received an overwhelming response in India, British Columbia Premier David Eby has decided to lead a trade mission to India next week. And these trade mission visits are being viewed in light of the upcoming visit of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to India next month.
    Incidentally, the BC trade mission will be headed by its Premier, David Eby, and Jobs Minister, Ravi Kahlon. The BC delegation will visit India from January 12 to 17 and make stopovers in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chandigarh. It will be the first visit by a provincial premier to India in recent years.

    It was the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, that led to a big spat in the bilateral relations between India and Canada. The BC Premier, while announcing his visit to India, said that he remains profoundly concerned about the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the accusation from the then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the “agents of India” were involved in his assassination.

    Photos: CHCC

    He said that it is the job of the federal government to work with the Indian government on “issues of shared concern.” The BC provincial government works at the level to look after the people of the province, including creating jobs in sectors struggling as a result of tariffs.

    “We have challenges with the US; we still work with the United States. We have challenges with China; we still work with China,” he added. The BC ministers held that India was an important nation that has the fastest-growing and third-largest economy in the world.

    British Columbia is one of the largest trade partners with India. Last year, the bilateral trade between India and BC was US $2.1 billion. The BC trade mission will be broadly looking at the forestry and clean energy sectors.

    Meanwhile, the CHCC undertook a series of cultural, trade, and business engagements in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Haryana, aiming at strengthening people-to-people connections, deepening economic cooperation, and exploring long-term trade and investment opportunities between Canada and Assam.

    Canadian Hindu Chamber Trade Mission comprises Ashutosh Singh, Kushagra Dutt Sharma, Umesh Raj Unnikrishnan, Mukundbhai Jitendra Sheth, Shankar Kumar Dey, Gagan Kumar, Nareshkumar Narayanbhai Chavda, Bhargav Jambalaya Chavda, Anandkumar Acharya, Rakeshkumar Maravilha Kantaria, Vipulkumar Shankarbhai Rabari, Saurabh Rattan, Falgun Gulabsha Bhanderi, Nilay Shaileshbhai Thakkar, Amit Bijoy Chowdhury Nayankumar Ghanshyambhai Brahmbhatt, Shool Pani Singh, Josh Leslie, Rebecca Greco, and Gopal Krishan Saini have been on tour of India since New Year’s Day.

    Photos: CHCC

    Besides signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, members of the mission are also enjoying a religious pilgrimage as they were accorded the status of state guests by the Uttar Pradesh government to visit Ayodhya and Prayagraj. Earlier during their stay in Assam, they also paid their obeisance at some of the historic temples, including Kamakhya Temple, one of India’s most significant spiritual landmarks. The visit symbolized respect for Assam’s rich cultural and spiritual heritage and marked a meaningful beginning to the Chamber’s Assam engagements.

    The visit of the CHCC has marked a significant step toward strengthening academic, research, and industry collaboration between India and Canada. The MoU with Deen Dayal Upadhyaya University aims to promote student and faculty exchange programs, joint research initiatives, skill development, entrepreneurship, and enhanced cooperation between academia and industry. This partnership reflects a shared commitment to fostering global knowledge exchange, innovation, and capacity building, while creating new opportunities for students, researchers, and businesses across both regions.

    Starting its India engagements with a visit to the revered Kamakhya Temple, a high-level Canada–Assam trade & networking meet was successfully held at Hotel Apollo Grand, Guwahati, in collaboration with the Assam Chamber of Commerce. The event brought together senior business leaders, industrialists, and sectoral representatives from across Assam with members of CHCC.

    The session was addressed by Rupam Goswami, Chairman of the Assam Chamber of Commerce, who highlighted Assam’s growing industrial base, investor-friendly policies, and the importance of long-term international trade partnerships, particularly with Canada. Prominent industry leaders, including Manohar Chowdhury, a leading industrialist, and Rajiv Kumar Burah, a noted hotelier, shared insights on Assam’s industrial, hospitality, and tourism potential.

    Representing CHCC, Rakesh Kantaria, Secretary of the CHCC, outlined the Chamber’s mandate and its role in facilitating trade and investment linkages between Canada and India. Kushagra Dutt Sharma, President of CHCC, presented the objectives of the mission, identifying priority sectors such as tea, oil and gas, energy, agriculture, education, hospitality, infrastructure, and sustainable development as key areas for collaboration between Canada and Assam.

    The CHCC Mission conducted a field visit to the 16,000-hectare tea garden of Bhardwaj Tea & Timber Company. The visit offered a breathtaking view of Assam’s vast natural landscape and provided an in-depth learning experience on the complete tea value chain.

    The general manager shared detailed insights into the journey of tea—from plantation and cultivation to processing and the final product that reaches consumers. The interaction highlighted significant opportunities for the import of regular tea, green tea, and other tea-based products from Assam to Canada and the broader North American market, reinforcing Assam’s potential as a key sourcing destination.

    The CHCC delegation also held a detailed meeting with Assam Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (AIDC) in Guwahati. Discussions focused on potential investment opportunities in Assam, government support mechanisms, infrastructure development, and policy facilitation. The meeting was described as highly productive, resulting in the identification of multiple investment avenues and future areas of cooperation.

    An important Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University and the Canadian Hindu Chamber of Commerce (CHCC) on January 4, 2026, marking a significant step toward strengthening academic, research, and industry collaboration between India and Canada. The MoU aims to promote student and faculty exchange programs, joint research initiatives, skill development, entrepreneurship, and enhanced cooperation between academia and industry. This partnership reflects a shared commitment to fostering global knowledge exchange, innovation, and capacity building, while creating new opportunities for students, researchers, and businesses across both regions.

    Photos: CHCC

    Hemant Shah, Chair of the Trade Committee, said that the trade mission has already established a strong and solid relationship between Canada and India. Naresh Chavada, a trustee and founder of the Chamber, and President Kushagr Dutt Sharma, have worked tirelessly to make this trade mission successful.

    The engagements on the first three days marked an important step in strengthening Canada–Assam relations through a balanced focus on culture, trade, industry, and institutional collaboration. The CHCC reaffirmed its commitment to continued engagement with Assam’s government and business community, with the intention of translating these discussions into tangible trade, investment, and partnership outcomes.

    On arriving in Uttar Pradesh, the Hindu Trade mission received a warm welcome from the Chief Minister and the Governor. It called on Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister. It held discussions to explore investment opportunities across MSMEs, religious tourism, and hospitality sectors—reflecting growing global confidence in India’s growth trajectory and the emerging opportunities in Uttar Pradesh.

    (Prabhjot Singh is a Toronto-based senior journalist. Widely traveled, he writes chiefly on Sports and politics.)

  • The time is ripe for taking India-Canada bilateral trade to new heights

    The time is ripe for taking India-Canada bilateral trade to new heights

    By Prabhjot Singh

    TORONTO (TIP): Riding a wave of quick return to normalcy in bilateral relations following the successful exchange of recent ministerial visits, it is time for the business, trade, and industry of both India and Canada to work on new agreements, partnerships, and investments to carry this momentum forward for the overall benefit of the people of the two closely knit nations. This was the gist of the message from the leaders of trade, industry, business, and diplomacy at an event here on Monday, November 17,  to announce the launch of the second Trade Mission of the Canadian Hindu Chamber of Commerce.

    Another official of the second Trade Mission of the Canadian Hindu Chamber of Commerce outlined the program.

    And when the second Trade Mission embarks on its visit to India in the first week of the New Year, it will have a plethora of avenues and opportunities in technology and innovation, education and skill development, energy, small business, and MSME ecosystems to explore.

    When the first 33-member mission returned home after a successful sojourn in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh in 2023, during which it visited 16 cities, it had signed several memoranda of understanding in certain niche areas, including ayurveda, diamonds, and jewelry. The time is ripe now for the second mission to carry forward the good groundwork already done and explore further new areas.

    The Chamber, which has established itself as one of Canada’s most active business organizations, with over a thousand members, in advancing international and inter-provincial engagement, the 2026 mission will be led by its president, Kushagr Dutt Sharma; trade mission chair, Dr. Rakesh Kantaria; India-Canada Trade Committee chair, Hemant M. Shah; and the 2026 Trade Mission co-chair, Amit Chowdhary.

    The current leadership team that has been guiding the Chamber’s growing portfolio of global outreach has successfully executed multiple international trade missions, along with inter-provincial business delegations across Canada, connecting entrepreneurs, investors, and institutions across sectors and regions, says Kushagr Sharma.

    The Canadian Hindu Chamber of Commerce also holds its annual Invest India–Invest Canada Business Summit, which has been acting as a bilateral forum uniting policymakers, industry leaders, and high-growth enterprises from both nations to accelerate trade and investment partnerships.

    The launch event also saw the presence of senior officials of the ICICI Bank Canada, including its Chairman, Mr Himadari, who promised all support to the Mission. Also present was Deepak Anand, Member of Provincial Parliament, who divulged that though Ontario was celebrating Hindu Heritage Month, it was a unique land that was represented by more than 100 communities, ethnicities, and religious backgrounds working for a common motive of making Canada their home.

    India’s acting Consul-General in Toronto, Kapidhwaja Partap Singh, said that there was a tremendous potential for the bilateral trade to grow. He talked about health care, education, pharmaceuticals and resources, saying that with the changed immigration policy, India could be a source for supplying the skilled manpower that Canada wants to import now.

    He said that three ministerial visits within a week reflect the huge potential. India will be working on a mechanism to capture knowledge for taking the initiatives in an executable way forward. He also talked about the Surat jewelry mission’s Canadian visit. India, he said, could also benefit from the Canadian expertise in mining, besides realigning its student force to meet the skilled workforce requirement of Canada. The Consul-General was expecting many more exchanges of such visits. He also announced that India was almost giving 100 percent clearance to medical visas, provided the applicants are annexing a letter from the hospital and the medical authorities concerned.

    The second mission will engage with prominent industry bodies, business chambers, and regional partners across Assam—which has great potential for energy in which Canada holds the expertise—Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh (Punjab and Haryana), Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh.

    The launch event also saw the presence of senior officials of the ICICI Bank Canada, including its Chairman, Mr Himadari, who promised all support to the Mission. (Photos by Maninder K Chandhoke)

    The objectives of the mission, according to Kushagr Dutt Sharma, are to strengthen Canada-India bilateral business cooperation; connect Canadian businesses with regional industry leaders and chambers; and explore sectoral opportunities in energy, electronics manufacturing, the information technology sector, and pharmaceuticals.

    He even referred to how Canada was investing its huge pension fund in India.

    A video message from Mr Hemant Shah, who, in recognition of his long services in promoting India-Canada trade, has been named Chair of the Free Trade Development Committee of the Chamber, also talked about the tremendous potential for furthering the bilateral trade.

    Rakesh Kantaria, Maharishi Jani, and Rajan Sharda of ICICI Bank were among other speakers at the event.

    (Prabhjot Singh is a Toronto-based senior journalist)