The Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC) is pleased to announce that as of April 1, 2013, Peter Sutherland, the current Vice-Chairman of C-IBC and former High Commissioner to India will become the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council.

Mr. Sutherland is taking over from Rana Sarkar, the outgoing President and CEO. Mr. Sarkar held this role for four years and is joining KPMG in a strategic advisory capacity. He will continue to serve on C-IBC’s Board of Directors.

Mr. Sutherland has a long history with the Council, having spent five years as its Vice-Chairman. He comes to this role following a distinguished diplomatic career that included service as Canada’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, High Commissioner to India and as a senior executive dealing with international business and investment in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Most recently, Mr. Sutherland has been a Senior Advisor at Aird & Berlis LLP where he counseled Canadian companies on doing business in India, the Middle East and other parts of Asia.

“I applaud Peter’s broad and extensive knowledge of India and I know he will do a first class job as the incoming Chief Executive of the C-IBC”, said Don Stewart, Chair of the Council, “I thank Rana for his many contributions to C-IBC and look forward to having his continuing contribution to the Board.”

“Under the leadership of Roy MacLaren and Rana Sarkar the C-IBC has grown in size, stature and leadership since my days as High Commissioner in New Delhi. With the support of the Council’s many stakeholders, I look forward to strengthening its position as the pre-eminent voice of business in Canada-India relations,” said C-IBC’s incoming President and CEO, Peter Sutherland.

Contact & Interviews:
To arrange to speak with Peter Sutherland about his leadership vision for the Canada-India Business Council, the state of Canada-India relations and/or the opportunities ahead, please contact:

The Canada-India Business Council
Emily Hamilton, Communications & Research Coordinator
T: 416-214-5947 x26
E: ehamilton(at)canada-indiabusiness(dot)ca

About the Canada-India Business Council:
The Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC) was founded in 1982 by the Bank of Nova Scotia, Bombardier and the late Thomas Bata. For almost 30 years, C-IBC has been the leading, bi-national member driven association dedicated to the sustained growth of trade, investment and services between Canada and India. C-IBC works to assist Canadian organizations by offering knowledge, experience and insight on bilateral trade and investment opportunities. With over 100 members, the C-IBC represents the leading companies in the Canada-India business corridor.

The C-IBC is governed nationally by a Board of Directors which is comprised of senior executives from Canada’s leading organizations as well as leaders from both small and medium-sized enterprises. C-IBC is headquartered in Toronto with operations in Delhi, Vancouver and Montreal.

View press release.

The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, recently announced the seventh round of Canada-India trade negotiations will be held in New Delhi (February 5 to 7, 2013).

Negotiations on Canada’s Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India are scheduled to conclude by the end of 2013 (with both Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Stephen Harper having recently reaffirmed their commitment to this target).

As the leading voice of Canadian business in India, the Canada India Business Council (C-IBC) appreciates the financial returns that CEPA will mean to Canadian industry and the role that it can play in helping to realize on these benefits.

A recent Canada-India joint study concluded that a trade agreement between the two countries could boost Canada’s economy by at least $6 billion – with core economic opportunities having been identified in the energy, agriculture, infrastructure and education sectors.

Connecting the Business Community to Government Officials:
The C-IBC trade policy initiative is intended to assist negotiators in their efforts to conclude a high quality agreement for Canada. This involves sharing the private sector’s insights on the agreement to ensure that it offers the greatest tangible benefits to Canadian industry.

The C-IBC Trade Policy Committee will:

-Closely follow and analyze negotiations;
-Discuss the issues at play and
-Communicate recommendations from the business community to government officials.

“For Canada to optimize the benefits of a CEPA with India it is imperative that business fully understand the issues at play and that their views are communicated to Canadian negotiators. That is the role of our trade policy committee.” – Peter Sutherland, Vice Chairman of the Canada-India Business Council & former Canadian High Commissioner to India.

Jason Langrish, who, as Executive Director of the Canada-Europe Roundtable for Business, has played a leading role in the Canada-Europe Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement negotiations, will head the C-IBC Trade Policy Committee.

Event Details:
The next meeting of the C-IBC Trade Policy Committee will be held on:

Date: February 13, 2013
Time: 8-9:30 a.m.
Location: Downtown Toronto

This invitation-only event is open to both C-IBC members and non-members.
Tickets: C-IBC members $20. Non-members $35.
To request an invitation please contact: events(at)canada-indiabusiness(dot)ca

Interview & Comment Opportunities:

-Peter Sutherland, Vice Chairman of the Canada-India Business Council, former High Commissioner to India, and/or

-Jason Langrish, Senior Trade Advisor, Canada-India Business Council are both available to provide comment and insight on the status of the CEPA with India as well as on the role of the business community in furthering the negotiations.

The Canada-India Business Council:
The Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC) is Canada’s only private sector, member driven, not-for-profit national business association dedicated to the sustained growth of trade, investment and services between corporate Canada and corporate India.

For over thirty years, the Canada India Business Council (C-IBC) has helped Canadian companies of all sizes realize on the opportunities that the Indian market represents.
Our members include both globally recognized Canadian and Indian brands as well as innovative and up and coming SMEs.

C-IBC is headquartered in Toronto with operations in British Columbia, Quebec and New Delhi, India.

View Press Release.

Canada and India: a work in progress: Although the bilateral relationship is deepening, both nations must work harder

India’s immediate prognosis: An otherwise welcome return to robust growth will revive some problems, says India’s ‘chief strategist’

Meeting India’s energy needs: Its growing economy and overwhelming dependence on foreign oil and gas spells opportunity for Canada

Financing and supplying India’s infrastructure: New Delhi hopes the private sector will supply 50% of infrastructure cost. But are there mechanisms to make it happen?

Bridging India’s skills gap: To educate its millions, India is looking West for remote campuses and new ways of teaching

Understanding corporate social responsibility in India: As western firms move to the subcontinent, they must understand what Indians expect of them in return for doing business

Addressing India’s environmental problems: Cleantech holds the promise of rescuing India’s growing economy from environmental degradation

Thickening Canada’s trade relations with India: Trade grew by more than a quarter in 2011. How do both countries continue the momentum?

Backgrounder: India’s growth story: Is the subcontinent’s economic revolution over, or can it be revived?

For more information on the Canada-India Business Forum click here.

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“The Canada-India Business Council is excited to be partnering with the Times Group, India’s largest and most prestigious media organization with an outstanding global reputation.  We look forward to working closely with them in the months and years ahead to fostering better understanding and connectivity between Canada and India through events and publications and across media platforms.”

Rana Sarkar, President & CEO, Canada-India Business Council

The world’s most populated democracy has been growing in the shadows of fellow Asian giant China and other regional powers. But with India investing billions of dollars a year in infrastructure, the country is expected to jump to become a top five aerospace country by 2020.

“I think there is a real opportunity for us,” council president Rana Sarkar said in an interview from Toronto.

“They’re not going to go with one supplier, they’re going to go with a syndicate of suppliers and it’s for us to be in that mix is an important thing.”

Canada’s aerospace and space sectors generate annual revenues of over $22 billion and employ about 80,000 Canadians in more than 400 firms across the country. Companies such as Bombardier (TSX:BBD.B) and CAE Inc. (TSX:CAE), along with engineering and construction firms are already pushing to take advantage of the growing demand for new aircraft, pilot training and airport construction.

But more potential remains untapped.

“In virtually every sector in the aviation business, this is sort of like the 1950s in North America. You’re starting to see just an arithmetic growth,” he said.

The opportunity could total $1 trillion. And even though Canada’s share will be small, it’s still significant compared to where Canada’s sector has been historically, Sarkar said.

Canadian exports to India increased by 29 per cent last year to nearly $2.6 billion, with aircraft and spacecraft being the fourth-largest category accounting for almost nine per cent of total exports. Overall bilateral trade totalled $5.1 billion but is targeted to reach $15 billion by 2015.

Much of India’s potential comes from the massive airport construction underway that could upgrade 35 facilities and add 10 new airports in smaller cities. The number of airline passengers is expected to quadruple to 160 million per year by 2020.

But India also has great demand for soft infrastructure such as training services, air traffic control and maintenance, as well as education.

That’s where Canada can use its strengths, particularly in the country’s largest aero cluster in Montreal, he said.

“We have an opportunity to help India with what they would consider a crisis need right now.”

The head of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada said the future competitiveness of the Canadian industry is dependent on its ability to maintain and grow its market share in both current and emerging markets.

“As India continues to grow and expand its infrastructure and air travel capacity, Canadian interest in pursuing market and investment opportunities there will only increase,” said Jim Quick.

“Not only does India represent a tremendous opportunity from a market development perspective, but it is also a very valuable partner for the execution of R&D activities which complement strong core Canadian capabilities in that respect.”

The Indian government’s recent move to increase the foreign investment threshold to 49 per cent could strengthen Indian airlines by making it easier for them to forge alliances and allowing them to join strong outside networks.

Still, it has retained a strong offset policy that requires foreign companies to make significant investments by partnering with local firms in exchange for selling into the country.

Bombardier said it is looking at all kinds of avenues to take advantage of the huge opportunities that await in India.

“It’s too early to say whether it’s about manufacturing products there but … we would not rule out looking into any of these regions and what kind of business relationships beyond selling we would be looking at,” Ben Boehm, vice-president of international business, said in an interview from Russia.

Much like China, the expansion of airline services in India presents huge sales opportunities for both commercial and business aircraft.

Bombardier forecasts 1,345 business jet deliveries over the next 20 years and that the Asia-Pacific region (including China) will take delivery of about 4,000 commercial aircraft with 20 to 149 seats.

It has about 40 business jets operating in the country. Its largest commercial plane customer Spicejet flies seven Q400s but has ordered 15 turboprops and has options for an additional 15. Air India Regional operates four CRJ700 regional jets.

So far, the Montreal-based manufacturer has yet to win an Indian order for the CSeries. Boehm said the plane could allow non-stop connections between smaller airports and destinations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East because it’s the only plane in the 100- to 150-seat category capable of travelling 3,000 nautical miles.

India’s focus on low-cost carriers could make a 160-seat CSeries attractive to the country. But Boehm said it’s too soon to know whether any buyers would opt for a larger configuration, which would require airlines to make compromises such as reducing the number of toilets.

“I think right now anybody that we are talking to in India is still in the early stages where we aren’t down to what their final configuration is.”

Boehm said sales in India will be good for Bombardier’s suppliers such as landing gear makers Heroux-Devtek (TSX:HRX) and Goodrich, along with engine maker Pratt & Whitney.

“It’s going to be important for all of us,” he said. “We need to become much more outward looking in terms of (what) the aerospace market and the real growth demand over the next 20 odd years is going to be in these types of emerging markets.”

Shortages of trained aerospace workers in India limit the threat that work performed by Canadians could initially be transferred. But longer term, the country poses a competitive threat as companies such as state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited look to eventually develop their own fighters and commercial aircraft.

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Now, amid unconfirmed reports that three of the country’s largest national oil companies have jointly bid for the northern Alberta assets controlled by ConocoPhillips’ Canadian division, valued at $5-billion, the question on the minds of many observers is what took them so long?

We seem to know a lot about China, what China wants and what China needs, but we tend to forget about India

“That really is a mystery,” said Frank Atkins, an economics professor at the University of Calgary specializing in world oil markets. “We seem to know a lot about China, what China wants and what China needs, but we tend to forget about India.”

The world’s second-largest country by population has many of the same wants and needs as its larger neighbour. Both countries boast the highest economic growth rates in the world, both are net energy importers and both are anticipating dramatic growth in their energy demands over the coming decades.

Yet unlike China, which has made several multibillion-dollar investments in Canada’s oil patch in recent years through its various national oil companies, Indian NOCs have remained on the sidelines. But not from a lack of trying.

Experts suggest India has simply lacked the resources to compete as global push for oil sands assets has grown.

They don’t have as deep pockets as the Chinese or the Koreans and to some extent the Thais, Japanese and Malaysians that have made a stake here

“They don’t have as deep pockets as the Chinese or the Koreans and to some extent the Thais, Japanese and Malaysians that have made a stake here,” said Yuen Pau Woo, chief executive of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a Vancouver-based think tank. “It is a smaller pool of capital [and] they also might just be a little less motivated and a little less on the ball.”

Monday’s news reports that a consortium of three firms — Oil & Natural Gas Corp., Oil India Ltd. and Indian Oil Corp. — had bid for ConocoPhillips oil sands assets seemed to suggest the companies had broken free from their financial limitations. Yet the country has dipped its toe in Canada’s energy sector before, only to quickly pull out instead of going for a swim.

Interest in Conoco’s Canadian assets is reportedly flooding in from elsewhere in Asia as well as from Europe, suggesting history could still repeat itself for Indian ambitions in Canada’s oilpatch.

“When I was back in India back in 2000-2003, there were a number of Indian companies… who were looking at the oil sands and saying ‘Geez, it is getting pretty expensive and it is a pretty crowded oilpatch right now and maybe now is just not the right time’,” Peter Sutherland, vice-chairman of the Canada-India Business Council and former Canadian High Commissioner to India, said from his office in Toronto.

“Then of course the global recession took hold and prices as a result dropped and interest was rekindled. But of course, prices not only dropped in the oil sands but they dropped elsewhere in the world as well.”

So the Indians went elsewhere, to Africa and the Middle East mostly. In fact, it was in March 2003, when ONGC paid $1.13-billion to Talisman Energy Inc. for the Calgary-based company’s Sudanese assets that India’s Canadian interests became clear.

But with virtually all the energy assets in those regions are under government control, India has begun shifting focus back to Canada, among the world’s last remaining oil deposits not already under some form of state control.

“[ONGC] is now concentrating on known reserves in stable jurisdictions as demand is expected to continue to increase within India,” said Reynold Tetzlaff, the Calgary-based national energy leader for the Canadian division of PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, adding it marked a “change of strategic direction” for the company.

The overseas division of ONGC plans to spend up to US$20-billion by 2030 acquiring assets globally, though industry should not expect a China-like aggressive advance.

“It seems that [Chinese] state-owned enterprises can act more expeditiously than the Indian companies can,” said Mr. Sutherland. “You’ve seen that not just in Canada, of course, but around the world.”

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Central and state governments are nowhere close to a consensus, going by responses from finance ministers of various states. A delegation comprising members of the empowered committee of state finance ministers, along with state and central finance ministry officials, was here for discussions with Canadian officials and business groups.

Speaking to Business Standard at an event organised by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Raghavji said: “We are still stuck where we were. In fact, differences are growing.&” He singled out state autonomy as the biggest issue, describing states as wary of ceding revenue and authority to the Centre.&”

Raghavji said other contentious issues included the administrative mechanism for GST. “The Centre will collect tax and state governments will also collect tax. Who decides if taxes will rise or fall?&” He said there was also conflict regarding the proposed Disputes Settlement Authority and about exemptions.

He dismissed the prospects for curbing tax evasion under the GST system, noting the problem had not abated in European countries that had adopted GST. “More complicated the system, more the chances of evasion and this GST system is more complicated,&” Raghavji said.

However, the minister, who is from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said the disagreements over GST were not along political lines.

Kiran Choudhry, minister for excise and taxation of Congress-ruled Haryana, agreed there were no political divisions within the empowered committee. But in contrast to Raghavji, she felt there were few remaining hurdles and “roll-out should happen any time now&”.

For her state, Choudhry said the main concern was Central Sales Tax (CST) compensation, as Haryana was one of the states with the largest CST compensation due from the Centre, at Rs 3,000 crore. “We are demanding that CST compensation should be given to us till the time GST is not rolled out, as was promised when this entire exercise began. Unfortunately, that has not happened,&” Choudhry said.

While she believed GST would make the economy and taxation “more vibrant&”, she said the gains might not be spread equally among all states. “For example,&” she said, “Haryana is a producers’ state. In the long run, states which are not doing anything will tend to benefit much more than we will.&”

BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, chairman of the empowered committee and the finance minister of Bihar, said there were a number of issues on which state governments, cutting across party lines, were united against the Centre.

“Regarding compensation, regarding rates with a narrow band, and if there is any calamity or floods, states should have flexibility. So, there are certain issues on which states are unanimous but the central government has not incorporated these in the Constitutional Amendment Bill,&” Modi said.

He reiterated this was a state-Centre issue, rather than a political divide. “The BJP is also in favour of GST. But in favour of GST is one thing; the devil lies in the detail. So, when you go into the details, there is more concern from state governments,&” he said.

But Modi sounded optimistic about the central government’s readiness to compromise, as the passage of the Constitutional Amendment Bill would require a two-thirds majority in Parliament and approval from 50 per cent of state legislatures. “I think Chidambaram is very flexible, but how much time he will get, I can’t say,&” Modi said, referring to Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

Parliament is currently awaiting a report on the Constitutional Amendment Bill for the GST from its Standing Committee on Finance

The Indian delegation is visiting Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver to study GST implementation, compliance and fraud tracking mechanisms in a fellow federal system.

Rana Sarkar, president and chief executive officer of the Canada-India Business Council, said Canada could offer a good model for India, which needed to overhaul its tax regime. “The current system of revenue collection in India, a legacy of the post-Independence period, is not working, and there are enormous gaps between where India needs to be and where it is right now.&”

This is the second visit by the empowered committee to study Canada’s GST system. A delegation had visited the country for the same purpose in 2006.

The delegation members were unanimous that the current trip did not fly in the face of austerity measures back home, even if they took away different lessons from this tour. “We are going away much more knowledgeable,&” said Choudhry. Added Raghavji: “The delegation’s study strengthens views that this proposed GST cannot work in India.&”

According to Modi: “This has nothing to do with austerity. The delegation has come to study the system; it has not come for sightseeing.&” He might not have checked the delegation’s schedule in Toronto carefully. Included in the official programme was a day trip to nearby Niagara Falls.

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Watch Rana Sarkar and Peter Sutherland speak to OMNI News on India’s increasing energy demand and the opportunities and challenges this creates for Canadian Oil Companies.

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