India-New Zealand FTA closes final tariff gap in textile access

India signed the India–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement on ** April **** at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, eliminating tariffs on *** per cent of New Zealand’s *,*** tariff lines from Day * of entry into force. For Indian textile and apparel exporters, the deal resolves a structural anomaly: until this week, India was the only major textile supplier still paying MFN duty in New Zealand, while China (NZ–China FTA, ****), Bangladesh (LDC scheme), Vietnam and Indonesia (CPTPP and RCEP) all entered duty-free. Concluded in a record nine months after Prime Ministers Modi and Luxon launched negotiations in March ****, the pact is India’s seventh FTA in three and a half years, anchoring a textile-trade diversification strategy targeting USD *** billion in exports by ****.

TexPro trade intelligence reveals a highly asymmetric and complementary bilateral flow. India exports a diversified $*** million textile basket to New Zealand, while importing nearly $** million, of which **.* per cent is raw wool (HS **). This is not competition; it is a fibre-to-finished-goods value chain waiting to be formalised.