From 20 October 2026 all Indian goods enter New Zealand duty-free, but its average tariff was 2.3% and more than half its lines were already free. India cuts duties on about 70% of lines, opens quotas for apples and kiwifruit, keeps dairy out, and gets 5,000 work visas and a $20 billion investment aim in return.
New Zealand Opens Every Tariff Line to India on 20 October. Most Were Already Open; India’s Concessions Are Apples, Kiwifruit and Wine
India’s free trade agreement with New Zealand comes into force on 20 October 2026, ten months after negotiations ended and eighteen months after they began. From that day every Indian product enters New Zealand duty-free. India in turn cuts tariffs on about 70% of its tariff lines, some at once and some over ten years, and keeps dairy, the product New Zealand most wanted to sell, almost entirely out.
The headline symmetry hides an asymmetry. New Zealand’s tariffs were already low: an average of 2.3%, with more than half of its lines already free. India’s average is 17.8%. So most of the tariff cutting in this agreement is India’s, concentrated in a short list of New Zealand products, chiefly apples, kiwifruit, wine, wool and timber, while what India gets is mostly a guarantee, visas and an investment promise.
What each side gives
| What | New Zealand gives India | India gives New Zealand |
|---|---|---|
| Tariff lines | 100% duty-free from the first day | About 70% of lines liberalised, covering about 95% of current trade: 30% at once, 35.6% phased over 3–10 years, a few under quotas |
| Starting point | Average tariff 2.3%; 58.3% of lines already duty-free | Average tariff 17.8% |
| Farm products | – | Apples: 32,500 tonnes at 25% duty (half the usual 50%), rising to 45,000 tonnes by year six, with a minimum import price and seasonal window. Kiwifruit: 6,250 tonnes duty-free, rising to 15,000. Wine: duties cut 66–83% over ten years. Mānuka honey: cut 75% over five |
| Kept out | – | Milk, cream, whey, yoghurt, cheese and most dairy; sugar; spices; edible oils; coffee; rubber; onions; chickpeas, peas, maize and almonds |
| Dairy at the edges | – | Bulk infant formula and some dairy preparations phased out over seven years; milk albumins at half duty within a quota; duty-free entry for New Zealand dairy processed in India for re-export |
| Day one for New Zealand | – | Wool, coal, sheep meat and raw hides duty-free; 57% of New Zealand’s exports to India duty-free at once, a second round of cuts on 1 January 2027 |
| People and money | 5,000 temporary employment visas a year for Indian professionals (up to three years); 1,000 working-holiday visas; a stated aim of $20 billion of New Zealand investment in India over 15 years | – |
Sources: Ministry of Commerce and Industry releases (PIB 2207300, 2255914, 2313143); New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade summary and key outcomes; GTRI analysis for average tariffs and already-free lines; press coverage for the quota details. Sources differ on whether the 95% refers to bilateral trade or India’s exports; check the published tariff schedules for any specific line.
A small trade, now roughly balanced
| India–New Zealand goods trade, US$ million | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|
| India’s exports | – | 711 | 566 |
| India’s imports | – | 587 | 589 |
| Total | 873 | 1,298 | 1,155 |
| Balance | – | +124 | −23 |
2023-24 and 2024-25 totals as reported from commerce ministry data; 2024-25 imports are the total less exports. 2025-26 figures are from a Rubix Data Sciences compilation; another report puts 2025-26 exports nearer $480 million, so treat that year as approximate. Services trade was a further $1.24 billion in 2024.
India–New Zealand goods trade is small: about $1.2 billion in 2025-26. It grew by half in 2024-25 and then eased, and India’s surplus became a small deficit as exports fell. New Zealand’s largest export to India is forestry products, NZ$399 million in the year to December 2025 according to its trade ministry.
For India’s exporters, the gain is mostly certainty: most lines were already free, and the remaining New Zealand duties, which are low, go to zero and cannot be raised again. The larger gains claimed for India are outside goods: 5,000 temporary employment visas a year for professionals, 1,000 working-holiday visas, and New Zealand’s stated aim of steering $20 billion of investment into India over fifteen years, which is a facilitation target rather than a commitment by any investor.
Where India’s concessions land
New Zealand’s gains are concentrated and dated. Wool, coal, sheep meat and hides go duty-free on day one. Kiwifruit gets a duty-free quota of 6,250 tonnes, rising to 15,000 in six years. Wine duties fall by two-thirds or more over ten years, and mānuka honey’s by three-quarters over five.
Apples are the line Indian growers will watch. New Zealand may ship 32,500 tonnes in the first year at 25% duty instead of 50%, rising to 45,000 tonnes, subject to a minimum import price and a seasonal window. New Zealand harvests from February to May, when Indian orchards in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir are selling from cold storage rather than picking, so the fruit arrives off-season rather than head to head with the Indian crop. The quota is also small against India’s apple crop of over two million tonnes a year, though it matters more against the premium imported segment it competes in.
Dairy, one of the main reasons India gave for leaving the RCEP talks in 2019, stays largely closed: milk, cream, whey, yoghurt and cheese are excluded. The openings are at the edges: bulk infant formula and some dairy preparations over seven years, a half-duty quota for milk albumins, and duty-free entry for New Zealand dairy that is processed in India and re-exported. The last is the one to watch: it brings New Zealand milk solids into Indian plants without letting them into the Indian market.
How it came together
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 16 Mar 2025 | Negotiations launched during New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s visit to India |
| May–Nov 2025 | Four negotiating rounds, in New Delhi, Queenstown and Rotorua |
| 22 Dec 2025 | Negotiations concluded |
| 27 Apr 2026 | Agreement signed in Agra |
| 11 Jul 2026 | Prime Minister Modi visits New Zealand; both sides agree to bring the agreement into force early |
| 22 Sep 2026 | Commerce ministry announces entry into force |
| 20 Oct 2026 | Agreement in force: New Zealand removes all duties on Indian goods; India’s first cuts apply |
| 1 Jan 2027 | Second round of tariff cuts |
What would fix this
- The Directorate General of Foreign Trade should publish how the apple, kiwifruit and albumin quotas are allocated, and the monthly fill rate of each, so importers, growers and Parliament can see how much of each quota is used and by whom.
- The Department of Commerce should publish preference-utilisation figures for the agreement every quarter: how many Indian shipments to New Zealand claim the zero duty, and in which products, so the benefit of “100% duty-free” is measured rather than assumed.
- The Department of Agriculture, with Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, should publish wholesale apple prices in the main markets through each New Zealand import window, so any effect of the quota on growers is visible early enough to use the agreement’s review and safeguard provisions.
- The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade should report New Zealand investment into India each year against the $20 billion aim, from its own FDI statistics.
- The Ministry of External Affairs should report each year how many of the 5,000 employment visas and 1,000 working-holiday visas were used, by occupation, since the mobility chapter is the main gain claimed for India.
These are proposals from this blog, not recommendations any agency has adopted.
Sources and caveats
Ministry of Commerce and Industry releases, titles and dates from this blog’s PIB index: negotiations launched (16 March 2025, PIB 2111608), concluded (22 December 2025, PIB 2207300; backgrounder 2207583), signed (27 April 2026, PIB 2255914), entry into force announced (22 September 2026, PIB 2313143); PIB pages could not be opened from this blog’s tools, so details are from coverage and from New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade summary and key-outcomes pages. Average tariffs and the share of New Zealand lines already duty-free: GTRI, as reported. Quota and phasing details: MFAT, Upstox, IBTimes and other coverage of the September 2026 announcement. Trade: All India Radio on commerce ministry data for 2023-24 and 2024-25; Rubix Data Sciences compilation for 2025-26, with a lower export estimate in other coverage. India’s apple production, the harvest seasons and the RCEP history are general background, not from the agreement texts; the forestry figure is from MFAT’s key facts page. The tariff schedules themselves were not read for this piece; check them for any specific line.
About this article: Researched, written and edited by Umashankar Triplicane Dwarakanathan, with AI research assistance; every figure is meant to trace to the primary source cited. See the Editorial Policy for how sourcing, AI use and corrections work.
