India gives opportunity to generate healthy returns: Canada's High Commissioner to India MacKay

Canadian investors have been at the forefront of India’s private equity and infrastructure investment landscape and almost all major Canadian investors have a strong foothold here, said High Commissioner for Canada in India H E Cameron MacKay, while addressing a gathering in the city on Monday.

Startup ecosystem

He was speaking on ‘The Startup Ecosystem and What Ticks in Karnataka’ as a part of the foreign diplomats series organised by The Synergia Foundation on Monday.

He also spoke at length about how Canadian companies were looking at investing in the Indian startup space. He said that India offered a gamut of options for all
classes of investors.

He also pointed out that the commercial relationship between India and Canada is roughly 100 billion dollars.

“India provides the opportunity to generate healthy returns over a long period. There is also a strong people-to-people connect that drives the ties between these two nations. Canada houses one of the largest Indian diasporas in the world — 1.6 million people, accounting to more than three per cent of its population,” he said.

“Connectivity between India and Canada has also expanded considerably in recent years with multiple daily flight options being available.”

MacKay is a career diplomat with experience in foreign policy and trade negotiations in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Former diplomats, writers and those with a keen interest in foreign relations were present at the event.

Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Higher Education Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, who was also present, spoke about how Karnataka has bagged the ‘top achiever’ position under the implementation of the ‘ease-of-doing-business’ ranking of states/Union Territories.

“Bengaluru has an environment that is conducive for doing business. The government has made significant policy changes in the areas of higher education and talent generation to improve the skill and capabilities of manpower from the state of Karnataka,” Narayan said.