Prime Minister Stephen Harper's first full day in India included a business roundtable meant to showcase recent trade and investment deals between the two countries.

A news release from the international trade minister's office "estimated" the deals were worth over $2.5 billion, although some of the companies involved did not provide dollar figures for their deals, citing legal or confidentiality concerns.

The government wanted to "highlight recent collaboration between Canadian and Indian companies," providing "increased profile to the deals and ultimately the depth of the Canada-India relationship," a spokesman for International Trade Minister Ed Fast wrote.

"Investment is two-way," Fast told reporters. "There's an investment imbalance in favour of India and we're trying to rectify that."

Canada is hoping to secure a bilateral investment treaty with India, but the negotiations are still ongoing, with no specific timelines given for its completion.

Fast told reporters India still represents a "relatively opaque investment environment" for Canadian businesspeople, with "Byzantine rules" sometimes standing in the way.

Current bilateral trade between the two countries is about $5.2 billion, but both governments hope to increase that to $15 billion by 2015.

In some cases, Canadian technology is finding new applications in India's transportation and communications sectors. Several of the projects named Monday involve environmentally friendly or more energy efficient innovations.

Canadian manufacturing facilities could be built or expanded if some of the deals go ahead. But for other projects, most of the jobs created are based at plants in India.

Here's more about the agreements the trade minister was praising on Monday:

7 new deals

Prairie Pulp & Paper Inc. of Winnipeg has finalized a technology research and transfer agreement with Central Pulp & Paper Inc. of Saharanpur, India, to build a wheat straw-based paper plant in Manitoba. This new investment of between $500 million and $600 million is expected to reduce the company's annual costs by about $5 million per year. At the moment, the Canadian company markets tree-free paper made in India.

Taraspan of Kanata, Ont., and Tulip Telecom from New Delhi, India, are launching internet-based voice and data communication services in more than 2,000 cities in India, using technology from Canada's Mitel Networks Corporation.

Electrovaya of Mississauga, Ont., and Bhaskar Solar from Kolkata, India, signed a memorandum of understanding to implement "renewable energy management solutions" across a proposed 15,000 telecom towers throughout India.

Electrovaya also will now provide Canadian-made lithium ion batteries for Hero Eco Ltd.’s electric bicycles in Europe and North America.

Maisliner of La Salle, Que., announced it will open a new manufacturing plant in India to produce up to 6,000 refrigerated trucks a year for transporting agricultural products, processed food and pharmaceuticals.

Canadian Technology and Business Facilitators Inc. of Hamilton, Ont., has signed a long-term partnership deal with British-owned economic development firm ETI Dynamics, allowing a Canadian consortium to contribute water technologies and training to the Ganga River cleanup. The river cleanup is a massive international project billed as a "$100-billion opportunity" – the Ontario Clean Water Agency and several community colleges from the province will now have a slice of the work.

Export Development Canada, a federal Crown corporation, is providing $50 million to India’s Reliance Industries Limited to "help Canadian exporters meet the Indian company’s ongoing and future procurement needs." Reliance Industries is the largest private-sector company in India and part of the Fortune Global 500. EDC's loan is part of a larger $1-billion loan from a consortium of international banks. On Monday, Fast characterized the Crown corporation's mandate as filling "gaps left behind by private-sector lenders."

International Trade Minister Ed Fast emerged from the Canada-India business roundtable meeting in New Delhi to tout 14 trade and investment deals said to be worth more than $2.5 billion. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

7 previously-announced deals