Under the new India–New Zealand free trade agreement, India gains 100 per cent tariff-free access to New Zealand, a $20-billion investment commitment from New Zealand and expanded market access in services, including IT, finance and education.
In return, New Zealand secures broad but carefully phased access to the Indian market for its wool, meat, forestry and other products. Currently, annual two-way trade totals NZ$3.68 billion (US$2.4 billion), though a large chunk comes from travel-related spending by the 292,000 Indian-origin New Zealanders..
New Zealand’s The Post heaped praise on the agreement, writing: “This is unambiguously good news for New Zealand. The sheer size of India’s population, and its messy democratic path to growth, is something worth a small trading nation hitching its wagon to.”