The story so far:The recent India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was concluded in December, under which New Zealand will levy zero duty on 100% of India’s exports and bring in $20 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by 2030. More than a breakthrough, the India-New Zealand FTA is a framework for deeper cooperation in the future. The India-New Zealand FTA is hailed for being the fastest concluded, completed in a record time of nine months after being announced in March 2025. The bilateral trade between India and the U.S. stands at $132 billion, and changes in the tariffs by the U.S. really hurt India’s trade. Even though the India-New Zealand FTA is considered historic, it is important to learn from the trade agreements in the past, as many resulted in low yields.

Source: The Hindu December 31, 2025 01:33 UTC