My PR expired in October 2020.
Your card expires. Your status, on it’s own, does not. You can be a PR without a card, and you can be in breach of the RO with a card.
However, Due to personal reasons, I had to move out of the country and not able to fulfill my PR obligations. I have been in Canada only for Aug-Sep 2015 and May-Aug 2018.
Things have gotten a lot harder. The Electronic Travel Authorization and Visa systems essentially make it impossible to travel to Canada by air without having your residency questioned (which will generally result in a loss of status). There was a workaround where one could arrive to the US and cross at a land border and hope the agent did not report you, but COVID has made them a lot more aggressive about the border. The agents are not particularly friendly to travelers, and even as a US Citizen/PR coming in as essential work, I get questioned far more about my residency status. This is especially odd using a PRTD that proves I was recently examined and met either H&C or Residency Obligation.
I even had one CBSA agent (talking to the airline over SMS) try to stop me from boarding a plane in the US to Canada because I had a PRTD not a PR card. That was incorrect application of the order, and a supervisor had to get involved.
Could you please advise me the next step forward to get my PR card renewed.
That’s not how this works, unfortunately. The Residency Obligation is mandatory, and you were advised of this fact. There are a few exceptions, which it sounds like you do not meet (like Canadian employers and accompanying Canadian spouses). At this point, you can either roll the dice at the US land border (which you will likely lose), or you can try to make a claim for Humanitarian and Compassionate concerns. Like many asylum cases, you are essentially admitting fault at that point, and begging them not to follow the law as written because it will be unhumanitarian.
These types of relief are generally reserved for cases that are beyond your control, which could not be anticipated, which had no other reasonable options, and which involve you doing something absolutely necessary for as little time as required, then returning at the soonest opportunity.
A common example, like Scylla mentioned, would be caring for an ailing parent. Often, they need to remain in the home country due to familial ties or access to medical care. You would not be responsible for their sickness, they could be in dire need, and Canada is generally not going to expect you to let your parent die so that you can meet the legal presence requirement.
Other examples would be things like moving to the US or Europe to get access to specialized medical care you need, taking over the family business for a year or two when your parents died so you could sell it, helping a cousin who lost parents in a war zone, etc.
Ultimately, you have two realistic options if you can’t qualify for Express Entry now:
1) Fly to the US, try to cross at a land border. You will have to prove your PR status (which is still valid) by showing your PR card or them looking you up. It is a near certainty that they will question your residency obligation, especially as you would have flown to the US for the purpose of crossing at the land border instead of applying for a PRTD. It is extremely likely they will report you, and you will have to explain any H&C reasons that apply. If you do not, you lose your PR status.
2) Apply for a PR travel document. You won’t get a card in India. You can apply for the card to be sent to Canada, but it will have the same process, so it won’t get you anything. They will examine your residency history. They will find you in breach of your residency obligation. They will examine the H&C concerns, and if they determine they are insufficient, you will lose your PR status.
In either case, you need to be able to provide a compelling reason for them to be compassionate towards you, because you violated your obligation. If you can not do so, it is a near certainty that you will have your PR status taken when they ultimately examine you.
