British Columbia Premier David Eby said Indian companies and the delegation he is leading in the subcontinent have been holding "extensive discussions" about accessing the province's mining and energy sectors.
Eby, whose six-day trip to India wraps up Saturday, said in a news briefing by video from Mumbai Thursday that the Indian firms they've been meeting with want the government's help in "matchmaking" with mining firms.
He said energy was a close second in terms of interest.
"The urgency around energy is huge here," he said. "Every company, every politician, is convinced that India's growth will continue at seven or eight per cent annually. All of their plans use those kinds of numbers of growth, and that means they need dramatic and increased amounts of energy."
The premier said India was "looking strongly" at B.C. gas, especially liquefied natural gas projects that are close to final investment decisions.
"They're doing a huge internal push to reduce reliance on imported, petrol products like oil and gas and diesel and so on," he said.
"But in the meantime, they are looking strongly to LNG as one of their major ways of reducing carbon intensity as well as reducing smog in the country."
He cited the expansion of the Kitimat LNG facility and proposed Ksi Lisims LNG facility, both in northern B.C., as projects of interest in India.
The tour by the B.C. delegation, of which Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon is also a member, includes trips to New Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Bangalore.
The province said ahead of the tour that B.C.-origin goods exports to India were worth $1.3 billion in 2024, while Kahlon said B.C. had "the highest share of exports to India of any province."
Eby meanwhile downplayed reports citing an RCMP document obtained under access-to-information laws that Global News has said describes the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi crime group as "allegedly acting on behalf of the Indian government."
Eby said he had seen the document and the paragraph in question was a "summary of publicly available news reports," not an RCMP intelligence report.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
