By Ross Marowits, The Canadian Press

MONTREAL - Canada's aerospace sector can create jobs at home by taking advantage of India's modernization and recent moves to liberalize its foreign ownership restrictions, says the head of the Canada-India Business Council.

The world's most populated democracy has been growing in the shadows of fellow Asian giant China and other regional powers. But with India investing billions of dollars a year in infrastructure, the country is expected to jump to become a top five aerospace country by 2020.

"I think there is a real opportunity for us," council president Rana Sarkar said in an interview from Toronto.

"They're not going to go with one supplier, they're going to go with a syndicate of suppliers and it's for us to be in that mix is an important thing."

Canadas aerospace and space sectors generate annual revenues of over $22 billion and employ about 80,000 Canadians in more than 400 firms across the country. Companies such as Bombardier (TSX:BBD-B.TO - News) and CAE Inc. (TSX:CAE.TO - News), along with engineering and construction firms are already pushing to take advantage of the growing demand for new aircraft, pilot training and airport construction.

But more potential remains untapped.

"In virtually every sector in the aviation business, this is sort of like the 1950s in North America. You're starting to see just an arithmetic growth," he said.

The opportunity could total $1 trillion. And even though Canada's share will be small, it's still significant compared to where Canada's sector has been historically, Sarkar said.

Canadian exports to India increased by 29 per cent last year to nearly $2.6 billion, with aircraft and spacecraft being the fourth-largest category accounting for almost nine per cent of total exports. Overall bilateral trade totalled $5.1 billion but is targeted to reach $15 billion by 2015.

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India presents growing opportunity for Canada's aerospace sector: trade advocate