NEW DELHI: The Free Trade Agreement between India and New Zealand will be enforced on Tuesday (October 20), allowing duty-free access to Indian goods across Wellington’s entire market.The announcement comes from a ministry of commerce and industry presentation, cited by ANI.Labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, apparel, leather and footwear are expected to benefit from the removal of tariffs of up to 10 per cent from the agreement’s implementation. Other sectors, including engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, machinery, chemicals and agricultural products, are also expected to gain better market access.The agreement provides New Zealand market access across 70 per cent of tariff lines, while India has excluded the remaining 30 per cent. For New Zealand, duties on 30 per cent of the tariff lines covered under the agreement will be eliminated immediately. The remaining lines will see phased reductions over a period of up to 10 years, tariff cuts or tariff-rate quotas. ANI reported.India gets 100 per cent duty-free access for its goods exports to New ZealandCommerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal had previously announced that the deal could be operationalised in the latter half of October.“We are expecting that the agreement will get operationalised in the latter half of October 2026. The exact date for the same will be announced soon … because both sides have to completely take stock of the operationalisation processes and procedures,” he said on September 15
Double trade by 2030
Under the India-New Zealand Strategic Partnership Roadmap, the two countries have set a target of doubling bilateral trade in goods and services to NZD 7 billion, equivalent to around Rs 35,000 crore, by 2030.According to the New Zealand ministry of foreign affairs and trade, India-New Zealand two-way trade totalled nearly NZ$3.95 billion in the year ended December 2025. New Zealand exported NZ$2.03 billion worth of goods and services to India during the period, making India its 21st-largest goods export market and fifth-largest services export market.
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Key exports to India included travel services worth NZ$1.14 billion, forestry products worth NZ$399 million, horticulture products worth NZ$114 million, including apples worth NZ$81 million and kiwifruit worth NZ$33 million, aluminium worth NZ$86 million, iron and steel worth NZ$80 million, and wool worth NZ$77 million.According to the ministry of commerce and industry, New Zealand is India’s second-largest trading partner in Oceania. India’s services exports to New Zealand grew by 13 per cent in 2024 to reach US$634 million, with travel, IT and business services among the major sectors. India-New Zealand merchandise trade also rose from US$855 million in 2015-16 to US$1.298 billion in 2024-25.Over the 10-year period, India’s exports to New Zealand increased by 130 per cent, while imports rose by 7.21 per cent. New Zealand has also committed to invest USD 20 billion in India over 15 years.
