New Zealand’s PM did not listen to his own minister, said the deal with India was beneficial

India-New Zealand free trade deal: New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has described the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India as a major achievement of his government. Giving this information on social media platform X, he said that in his first term he had promised to achieve this agreement with India, and now he has completed it.

Christopher Luxon said that this historic agreement will help in increasing employment, income and exports by opening the doors to the market of 1.4 billion Indian consumers. The agreement was announced after a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Christopher Luxon on December 22. Both leaders described it as an important milestone in bilateral relations. The negotiations, which began in March 2025, were completed in just nine months, making it India’s fastest concluded FTA. It has also been linked to the ‘Developed India 2047’ vision.

Increase in trade between the two countries

Under the agreement, New Zealand will reduce or eliminate up to 95 percent of duties on its exports to India. 57 percent of products will be duty-free from day one. At the same time, all Indian exports will be able to reach duty-free in New Zealand, which will give a boost to sectors like textiles, leather, marine products, jewelery and engineering goods. Apart from this, New Zealand has promised to invest $20 billion in India in the next 15 years.

This agreement will give India stronger access to IT, education, financial services and tourism. A new facility of temporary employment visa will be launched for Indian professionals, in which 5,000 visas will be given at a time for a period of three years. Currently the trade between the two countries is about $1.3 billion, which is targeted to double in the next five years.

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Foreign Minister had protested

However, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters criticized it as ‘not fair’ regarding dairy products. Prime Minister Modi said that this agreement will give new impetus to trade, investment and people-to-people ties. For both countries, it is a symbol of economic development and strategic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. The formal signing of the agreement is likely to take place in the first quarter of 2026.