India-New Zealand FTA: What Indian Exporters Get (2026)

The deal in one minute

India and New Zealand signed a free trade agreement on 27 April 2026, completed ratification on 21 September 2026, and brought it into force on 20 October 2026. New Zealand has removed duty on 100% of Indian export lines. India keeps dairy, sugar, onions and a list of sensitive farm products out. And the deal was concluded in nine months — the fastest FTA India has closed.

If you export textiles, leather, footwear, marine products, engineering goods, pharma or gems, your duty in New Zealand is now zero, subject to origin. India has signed nine FTAs across 38 developed countries in recent years; this is the latest.

Why New Zealand is worth a look

New Zealand is small, rich and under-supplied by India. It is India's second-largest trading partner in Oceania, with GDP per capita of USD 49,380. Total imports were USD 47 billion in 2024; exports were USD 42 billion. Roughly 300,000 people of Indian origin and NRIs live there — about 5% of the population — and that diaspora already buys Indian food, textiles and consumer goods.

Bilateral merchandise trade grew from USD 873 million in 2023–24 to USD 1.3 billion in 2024–25, up 49%. Indian exports rose 32% to USD 711 million. Services exports grew 13% to USD 634 million in 2024, led by travel, IT and business services.

Here is the part exporters should notice. India supplies about 1.5% of New Zealand's total imports — USD 711 million of USD 47 billion. In textiles, New Zealand imports about USD 2.2 billion a year and India sells it roughly USD 103 million, under 5%. In engineering, New Zealand imports about USD 23.3 billion a year and India sells about USD 136 million. Duty was not the only barrier, but at 5–10% it was a real one.

What goes to zero

New Zealand's pre-FTA tariffs peaked at 5% on most goods and 10% on textiles, leather and footwear. All of it went to zero on 20 October 2026 for goods that meet the rules of origin.

Two things follow. First, the labour-intensive sectors are the real winners. Textiles, leather, footwear and gems are where a 10% duty was deciding deals against Vietnamese, Bangladeshi and Chinese suppliers — and where women workers and MSME units are concentrated. Second, India also gets duty-free inputs from New Zealand: wooden logs, coking coal, and metal waste and scrap, which lowers the cost of production before you export.

What India protected — and what the headlines got wrong

India kept 29.97% of tariff lines out of the deal. Those lines cover about 95% of New Zealand's bilateral trade, because they are concentrated in the one thing New Zealand exports most: dairy.

• Dairy — milk, cream, whey, yoghurt, cheese
• Animal products other than sheep meat
• Onions, chana, peas, corn, almonds and other vegetable products
• Sugar and artificial honey
• Animal, vegetable and microbial fats and oils
• Arms and ammunition, gems and jewellery
• Copper articles — cathodes, cartridges, rods, bars, coils
• Aluminium — ingots, billets, wire bars

Read that list carefully. These are India's import protections, not limits on what India can export. A headline saying dairy is excluded does not touch your textile shipment to Auckland. Indian dairy farmers are protected; Indian exporters are not restricted.

The TRQ carve-outs: apples, kiwifruit, Mānuka honey

Four New Zealand products get limited, managed access rather than free access. Each comes with a tariff rate quota, a minimum import price and, in some cases, seasonal windows.

That is a deliberate trade. In exchange, New Zealand agreed to Agriculture Productivity Action Plans for kiwifruit, apples and honey — Centres of Excellence, better planting material, grower training, collaborative research, orchard management and post-harvest support. A Joint Agriculture Productivity Council monitors delivery, and the market access is tied to those plans. The quotas are phased, with the first year largely nil for apples and kiwifruit before volumes rise, and they are administered through DGFT's TRQ authorisation system against New Zealand export certificates.

For Indian growers in Himachal, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand and the Northeast, that is capacity building in exactly the crops where they compete. For importers and retailers, it is a controlled supply of premium fruit and honey at a known price floor.

Rules of origin decide whether you actually save the duty

Zero duty is conditional. Your goods must originate in India under the agreement's product-specific rules of origin, and you must be able to prove it. The framework is built to stop circumvention — goods trans-shipped or minimally processed in India do not qualify.

1. Check the product-specific rule for your HS line before you quote a landed cost.
2. Track value addition and non-originating inputs at SKU level, not at company level.
3. Get a certificate of origin from an authorised issuing agency, and keep the supporting cost sheet.
4. Match the invoice, packing list and certificate — mismatches are the most common reason a preferential claim fails.
5. Keep records long enough to survive a verification request from New Zealand Customs.

The agreement also includes SPS and TBT chapters with electronic SPS certification and faster processing of market access applications. For marine and processed food exporters, that reduces the paperwork queue — a quieter win than the tariff cut, but often the one that decides whether a shipment lands on time. Customs facilitation is written in too: standard cargo clearance within 48 hours, express and perishable shipments within 24 hours, authorised economic operators and paperless single-window clearance.

On geographical indications, New Zealand has committed to amend its law within 18 months to give India's GIs EU-level protection. For basmati, Darjeeling tea and handicraft clusters, that is the provision to watch.

Services, students and mobility

This is where the deal is unusually generous, and where most coverage stops short.

• Services: commitments across 118 sectors, with MFN treatment in 139. For the first time, New Zealand has opened trade in health and traditional medicine services with India — Ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and homeopathy, alongside Māori health practices.
• Students: a Student Mobility and Post Study Work Visa annex, New Zealand's first with any country. Up to 20 hours a week while studying, protected against future policy change; no numerical cap on Indian students; post-study work of up to 3 years for STEM bachelor's and master's graduates and up to 4 years for doctoral scholars.
• Work visas: a Temporary Employment Entry visa allowing up to 5,000 holders in New Zealand at any one time, with most places allocated to occupations already on New Zealand's Green List, plus a small number of India-iconic professions. Visas run 3 years and do not lead to residence.
• Working holiday: 1,000 young Indians a year, 12-month multiple-entry visa.
• Investment: USD 20 billion from New Zealand over 15 years, with a rebalancing clause if delivery falls short; cooperation in renewable energy, digital services and infrastructure.
• Organic products: a mutual recognition arrangement covering basmati rice, flax seed, Arabica Cherry AB, psyllium husk, soyabean oil cake and organic black tea.

State-wise: who gains most

What to do now — five steps

1. Map your HS codes to New Zealand's tariff. Confirm the current MFN rate and the line's treatment — nothing else matters until this is done.
2. Qualify under origin. Read the product-specific rule, check your bill of materials and confirm value addition. If a product fails, consider whether sourcing or processing can change the answer.
3. Line up proof of origin. Identify the issuing agency and the documents your bank and the buyer will want.
4. Re-price now, not later. The duty is live, so the zero-duty price is the price — but quote it only on shipments that will actually qualify, and keep the origin paperwork with the file.
5. Fix the payment side before you scale. New Zealand is a broad-coverage market, with factoring and LC discounting available — which means you can offer 60–90 day terms and still get paid early.

A 10% duty cut is worth nothing if the buyer wants 90-day credit and you cannot fund it. The tariff is the headline; the payment terms are the deal.

Frequently asked questions