Canadian and Indian companies announce deals worth $2.5 billion
November 5, 2012 - The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, today in New Delhi welcomed 14 trade and investment agreements and announcements that demonstrate the increasing depth of the Canada-India relationship. The more than $2.5 billion in announcements will create jobs and prosperity for the citizens of both Canada and India.
“Our government is committed to creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity,” said Minister Fast. “A key part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan includes broadening and strengthening Canadian exports and our investment relationships in dynamic and fast-growing markets like India, and these announcements are clear proof that our partnership is growing stronger every day.”
The Government of Canada has trade commissioners in eight offices across India, making the country home to one of Canada’s largest trade networks abroad. There are over 500 Canadian companies active in India, and more than 800 additional companies have recently requested the support of the Government of Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service to make inroads into the Indian market.
“Canada’s growing trade with India is fuelled by our strong people-to-people ties,” said Minister Fast. “India is a growing economy with enormous potential, and our government is committed to further strengthening the links between our two countries.”
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A backgrounder follows.
For further information, media representatives may contact:
Rudy Husny
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Ed Fast
Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway
613-992-7332
rudy.husny@international.gc.ca
Trade Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-996-2000
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1) Prairie Pulp & Paper Inc. (Winnipeg) and Central Pulp & Paper Inc. (Saharanpur) signed a technology research and transfer agreement to use Central Pulp and Paper’s unique know-how in desilication for a wheat-straw-based pulp-and-paper plant to be built in Manitoba. The mill will be an investment in Canada of US$500-600 million. The technology will reduce costs to Prairie Pulp & Paper by an estimated US$5 million per year, with the added advantage of energy and environmental improvement.
2) La Coop fédérée (Montréal) and Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative (IFFCO), in collaboration with Investissement Québec, announced an agreement of intent to establish a urea-production plant in Bécancour, Quebec. This $1.2-billion investment will support the production and marketing of urea in the form of nitrogen fertilizers. The investment will create 200 local jobs. The plant’s construction is scheduled to begin in 2014.
3) Maisliner (LaSalle, Quebec) announced that it plans to open a new manufacturing plant in India to produce refrigerated trucks. Maislin Group India will manufacture European and North American quality refrigerated trucks and trains for the domestic transport of agricultural products, processed food and pharmaceuticals. The new company aims to produce 6,000 refrigerated units per year at full capacity.
4) Export Development Canada will provide US$50 million in financing to India’s Reliance Industries Limited to support continued and enhanced engagement with Canadian exporters to meet the Indian company’s ongoing and future procurement needs. EDC is providing the loan as part of a larger US$1 billion loan from a consortium of international banks.
5) Westport Innovations (Vancouver) and Tata Motors (Mumbai) announced a technology-development project for Westport to develop a natural-gas engine and related technology for the automotive company.
6) Westport Innovations and Technology Action for Rural Advancement (New Delhi) signed an agreement under the Clinton Global Initiative to use Westport’s expertise to improve air quality and access to electricity in rural India. The project will fuel mobile phone-tower generators with natural gas, and provide residual power to nearby villages that are currently off the electrical grid.
7) Taraspan (Kanata, Ontario) and Tulip Telecom (New Delhi) signed the launch of cloud-based managed unified communication services to over 2000 cities in India, which includes solutions from Mitel Networks Corporation (Kanata, Ontario).
8) Electrovaya (Mississauga) and Bhaskar Solar (Kolkata) signed a memorandum of understanding to implement renewable energy management solutions across Bhaskar’s proposed 15,000 telecom tower applications across India.
9) Electrovaya will provide lithium ion batteries for Hero Eco Ltd.’s (New Delhi) electric vehicles in Europe, India and North America, a market estimated at over $1 billion. Electrovaya will manufacture in Canada the batteries for Europe and the Americas.
10) Canadian Technology and Business Facilitators Inc. (Hamilton, Ontario) has signed a strategic partnership with ETI Dynamics (London, with offices in India) to become the country coordinator with Bhagat GTBF for identifying and managing Canadian water technologies for the Ganges river clean up. This is a long-term agreement that will see the partners work hand-in-hand to allow Canadian water-technology organizations to access Ganges river clean-up projects in India.
11) Bombardier (Montréal) won a contract from Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation for designing, manufacturing, delivering and testing of Bombardier MITRAC propulsion and control equipment, as well as additional equipment. The order relates to a total of 72 commuter trains with 12 cars each operating on the Mumbai suburban rail network, a contract worth over $200 million.
12) Bombardier is providing the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation with 614 MOVIA cars, a contract value of €724 million.
13) IRD South Asia Pvt. Ltd. (a division of IRD of Saskatoon) will provide its state-of-the-art toll-plaza technologies for a 50-lane highway project being led by Reliance Infrastructure, connecting Gurgaon with other parts of Haryana.
14) IRD South Asia will provide its automatic vehicle counting and classification system in 10 locations across India, its high speed weigh-in-motion systems in five locations, and its centralized management information systems to 174 toll plazas across India.
15) OpenText (Waterloo) announced that it is doubling capacity in its Hyderabad Research and Development Centre and will open a new office in Mumbai to address the company’s significant market opportunity and support its rapidly growing customer base in India.
16) Extreme Startups (Toronto) signed an agreement with The Hatch for Startups (Chandirgarh and Delhi) to facilitate cross-border mentoring, create a platform for cross-border angel investment in Canadian and Indian startups, share insights and market-entry assistance among entrepreneurs, and offer office space to visiting entrepreneurs.
17) Venture Cap TV (Montréal) signed an agreement with The Hatch for Startups to create an Indian Internet channel dedicated to venture capital, angel investment and entrepreneurship. The joint venture will share content and improve the visibility of startups and venture capitalists in Canada and India.
18) Ryerson University has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with The Hatch for Startups to undertake skills development and student entrepreneur exchange programs. As a part of the MOU, Ryerson will exchange content and faculty from Ryerson to conduct learning sessions for startups and the Hatch for Startups will provide inputs and insights to select portfolio companies of the Digital Media Zone (the incubator of Ryerson University), and offer office space to visiting entrepreneurs.
