India, New Zealand start second round of negotiations for proposed free trade agreement
India and New Zealand have started the second round of negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement, aimed at boosting two-way commerce and investments. These talks will end on July 25. After a gap of about ten years, the two countries on March 16, 2025 announced the resumption of negotiations for the trade pact. The second round of negotiations started on July 14, 2025. India and New Zealand began negotiating the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) in April 2010. However, after ten rounds of discussions, the talks stalled in February 2015.
Earlier, New Zealand had demanded greater access to India's dairy market, which India has resisted to protect its domestic industry that supports millions of farmers. Currently, India's dairy imports from New Zealand are minimal (around $0.57 million). The country has not given duty concessions in the sector in any of its trade pacts. New Zealand may look for duty concessions on products like meat and wine.
The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $1.3 billion (exports $711.08 million and imports $587.15 million) in 2024-25. It was $873.4 million (exports $538.33 million and imports $335 million) in 2023-24. India's key goods exports to New Zealand include clothing, fabrics, and home textiles; medicines and medical supplies; refined petrol, agricultural equipment and machinery such as tractors and irrigation tools, auto, iron and steel, paper products, electronics, shrimps, diamonds, and basmati rice. The main imports are agricultural goods, minerals, apples, kiwi fruit, meat products such as lamb, mutton, milk albumin, lactose syrup, coking coal, logs and sawn timber, wool, and scrap metals.
In FY24, India's services exports to New Zealand stood at $214.1 million, while New Zealand's services exports to India totalled $456.5 million. India's key services exports include IT and software services, provided by companies such as Infosys and HCL, along with telecommunications services to support New Zealand's digital infrastructure. India also exports healthcare services, including medical tourism, pharmaceutical research, and telemedicine. Financial services are another important area, with Indian banks and fintech companies offering digital payment solutions. New Zealand's services exports to India are led by education services, with thousands of Indian students pursuing higher education in New Zealand.
