India and New Zealand on Monday signed the historic free trade agreement (FTA), with the Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon calling it as a “once-in-a-generation” pact that opens new pathways for trade in goods and services, investment flows, and labour mobility between the two countries. The FTA was formalised in the presence of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and his New Zealand counterpart, Todd McClay.
Taking it to social media platform X, Christopher Luxon said, "This is a once-in-a-generation agreement that gives NZ exporters unprecedented access to 1.4 billion people and an economy set to become the third-largest in the world. It means more jobs on farms and orchards, it means more money coming into local communities, and it means more opportunities for your family to get ahead."
Speaking on the development, Piyush Goyal said, "The fact that we are making businesses easier to set up, easier to work in India working towards reducing the compliance burden, ensuring simplicity in operations, ensuring a business climate that is trusting, that encourages investment, and also making sure that as a nation, we provide an environment that is business friendly, that is very inviting, and that it help you both grow and enjoy good profits in India."
New Zealand is India’s second-largest trading partner in Oceania. At $49,380, New Zealand is among the higher-income economies in Oceania. New Zealand maintained tariffs around 10% in around 450 lines of key Indian exports in products including textile/apparel products, leather and headgear, ceramics, carpets, automobiles and auto components. Additionally, the average applied tariff at 2.2% in 2025 will become zero from EIF.
As per the government statement on the FTA, India has offered market access in 70.03% of the tariff lines while keeping 29.97 % tariff lines in exclusion. Immediate Elimination (EIF) on 30%, rest is phased.
The 30% of tariff lines will have immediate duty elimination, covering wood, wool, sheep meat, leather-raw hides etc. 35.60% of tariffs are subject to phased elimination over 3, 5, 7, and 10 years, including petroleum oil, malt extract, vegetable oils, and selected electrical and mechanical machinery, peptones etc, the statement read.
Both the countries had began the negotiations for the deal back in 2010, which was later stalled in 2015 after nine rounds of talks.
Talks later revived in March 2025 before concluding in December last year: making it one of India’s fastest-concluded FTAs.
It spans 20 chapters covering goods, services, rules of origin, customs facilitation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, dispute settlement, and legal provisions.
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