Dinesh Bhatia, Consul General of India in Toronto, and Arun Srivastava, President, Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC), announced the collaborative effort at a meeting of the Chamber’s new board of directors with the Consul General held at the Toronto Consulate Wednesday.

The directors who met the Consul General included Arun Srivastava, President; Abubakkar Noohujohn, Vice President, Membership & Business Development; Pappur Shankar, Vice President, Finance & SME; Devika Penekelapati, Vice President, Programs and Events, and Sponsorship; Sanjay Brahmbhatt, Directror, SME; Nareshkumar Chavda, Director, Government Relations, and Membership and Events.

According to the proposed collaboration, the Chamber and the Consulate will work together to promote three of Government of India’s schemes – Make in India, Skills India and Startup India – in Canada. Both the Chamber and the Consulate will organize a series of seminars across the Greater Toronto Area and southern Ontario (especially the Toronto-Windsor technology corridor) to promote these initiatives. Significantly, both the institutions will be equal partners in these programs.

The seminars will provide a platform to experts in each of these initiatives, who have firsthand experience of investing and operating in India, to address audiences comprising Canadian companies seeking avenues in India, to help investors understand the ground realities of the Indian economy.

“The focus of the program will not merely be to hard-sell these initiatives, but also to help investors assess the new Indian business environment that is focused on deliverables and growth,” Arun Srivastava said following the meeting.

India’s reputation as an investor-friendly destination for foreign direct investment has risen sharply over the last two years thanks to the efforts of the new Narendra Modi-led government. It is at present one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and among the G20 and the BRICS group of economies. In addition, the Government of India has been pushing innovation and has created a positive environment for startups to flourish. At present, India is the third economy after the United States and Germany in terms of the number of startups.

The series of seminars will commence in late 2016 and continue well into 2017.