Mumbai, Oct. 15 -- Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has urged Canadian businesses to use India as a manufacturing, innovation and design base to serve global markets, highlighting the country's talent pool and expanding preferential trade access as opportunities for companies looking to strengthen their competitiveness.

Addressing a trade reception in Mumbai during the Team Canada Trade Mission to India, Goyal called on Canadian companies to look beyond India's domestic market and explore its potential as a base for production and exports to other regions.

"Please don't make India just your market. Make it also your manufacturing base, your base for innovation and design," Goyal said, adding that businesses could become...