Within the monetary 12 months 2024–25, merchandise commerce between India and New Zealand reached $1.3 billion — a pointy improve of practically 49 per cent in comparison with the earlier 12 months.
India and New Zealand are set to renew talks right this moment to finalise a Free Commerce Settlement (FTA) in New Delhi. The third spherical of negotiations concluded on 19 September 2025 in Queenstown, with each side expressing robust dedication to deepen financial cooperation and attain a balanced settlement that advantages companies in each international locations.
What’s on agenda?
The FTA discussions, formally launched on March 16, 2025, adopted a high-level assembly between India’s Commerce and Business Minister Piyush Goyal, and New Zealand’s Commerce and Funding Minister Todd McClay. Since then, negotiators have labored to construct a framework that enhances commerce, helps funding and improves provide chain resilience.
Within the monetary 12 months 2024–25, merchandise commerce between India and New Zealand reached $1.3 billion — a pointy improve of practically 49 per cent in comparison with the earlier 12 months. The proposed settlement is anticipated to additional increase commerce, create clearer guidelines for companies and open up new alternatives in each economies.
Commerce limitations
India–New Zealand commerce relations stay restricted, with talks stalled since 2015 over India’s protecting tariffs and New Zealand’s push for dairy entry, a problem delicate to Indian small farmers. India exports prescription drugs and equipment and imports primarily wooden and dairy merchandise.
Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) limitations hinder Indian agricultural exports, whereas the absence of Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) complicates certification processes. Strategic misalignments, minimal protection cooperation and limitations for Indian college students additional restrict deeper engagement between the 2 nations.
How dairy dispute stalls India–New Zealand FTA talks
Dairy has change into a key sticking level within the India–New Zealand Free Commerce Settlement (FTA) negotiations as a result of conflicting pursuits of each international locations. India’s dairy sector is without doubt one of the largest on the earth, deeply intertwined with the agricultural economic system and social cloth. It entails thousands and thousands of small-scale farmers and landless laborers who depend on dairy for every day revenue and diet. Most of those are girls and marginalised communities who use dairy as a low-investment, sustainable livelihood. Due to this, India has lengthy maintained excessive tariffs on dairy imports to guard home producers from international competitors.
Alternatively, New Zealand is without doubt one of the world’s main dairy exporters, with a extremely environment friendly dairy trade. Dairy trade is the muse of New Zealand’s export economic system, and getting access to the large Indian market is a serious precedence. As such, New Zealand sees dairy entry as a non-negotiable a part of any FTA. Nonetheless, this demand instantly conflicts with India’s protectionist stance, notably in gentle of political sensitivities round agriculture. Indian policymakers are extraordinarily cautious about any transfer that could possibly be perceived as harming farmers, particularly after latest nationwide farmer protests.
This elementary conflict of priorities—India’s need to guard rural livelihoods versus New Zealand’s push for export entry—has led to a impasse in FTA negotiations. Whereas each international locations see worth in strengthening commerce ties, particularly in areas like know-how and companies, the problem of dairy stays unresolved.
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