New Zealand opens all 8,284 tariff lines to Indian goods, while India's offer covers 70.03% of its own.
NEW DELHI: India has notified the first tariff concessions under its free trade agreement with New Zealand, and they take effect on 20 October, Dussehra. Under a Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs notification of 16 October, sheep meat enters duty-free, while kiwi fruit, apples and Mānuka honey come in through quotas with price floors. Notably, New Zealand will remove duties on all 8,284 of its tariff lines for Indian goods from day one. India, meanwhile, keeps commercial dairy outside the deal.
Open lanes for Indian exporters
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay signed the agreement on 27 April 2026. Talks ran from 16 March to 22 December 2025. New Zealand’s Parliament approved the deal on 16 September by 93 votes to 29, and ratification notes followed five days later. Consequently, Indian textiles, apparel, leather, footwear, engineering goods, chemicals and pharmaceuticals gain zero-duty access. The treaty also carries a $20 billion investment commitment over 15 years and working holiday mobility.
Sheep meat and the staging ladder
India’s own offer is calibrated. It covers 70.03% of tariff lines and about 95% of New Zealand’s export value to India. Around 30% of lines go to zero immediately, including sheep meat, which paid about 30% before, along with raw wool and hides. A further 35.6% phase to zero over 3 to 10 years, including petroleum oils, vegetable oils and select machinery. Seafood starts at 25.71% and reaches zero in seven years. The second tranche arrives on 1 January 2027.
Kiwi, apples and honey: quotas with price floors
The first-year kiwi quota is 6,250 tonnes at zero duty against a 33% baseline, if priced at $1.80 a kg or more and imported between 1 April and 15 October. Apples face 25% duty, down from 50%, on 32,500 tonnes with a floor of $1.25 a kg, between 1 April and 31 August. Mānuka honey has a 200-tonne quota, with duty falling from 66% to 56.1% in year one and 16.5% by year five. Its price floor is $20 a kg, rising to $30 for out-of-quota honey. Milk albumin gets 11% duty, down from 22%, on 1,000 tonnes.
Importantly, the quotas sit close to existing trade. New Zealand shipped about 5,840 tonnes of kiwi fruit and 31,393 tonnes of apples to India before the pact. The seasonal windows track New Zealand’s export calendar and keep clear of the harvests of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Furthermore, the high floors keep cheap generic honey out of the preferential channel.
Wine: a ten-year climb
Wine, taxed at 150%, falls over ten years to 25% or 50% depending on bottle price thresholds. That keeps low-cost bulk imports away from the concession. The domestic industry in Nashik and Karnataka concentrates on mass-market table wine, so the gains flow mainly to premium hotels, restaurants and urban retail.
Dairy: the red line
About 29.97% of tariff lines are fully excluded. These include liquid milk, cream, whey, yogurt, cheese and butter, along with key crops. This mirrors India’s approach in its agreements with Australia, the UAE and the EFTA bloc. To offset farm concerns, the agreement sets up Centres of Excellence in India on orchard management and beekeeping. The aim is to lift yields, cold-chain handling and testing standards. The customs revenue impact looks limited, because the quotas are small and the price floors are high.
The paperwork that decides it
Rules of origin, published on 12 October as Notification No. 82/2026-Customs (N.T.), govern every claim. Goods must be wholly obtained in either country or meet product-specific rules through a change in tariff classification or a qualifying value content threshold. A 10% de minimis allowance applies, and materials from either country count as originating content. Importers need a certificate of origin or an approved exporter’s declaration, valid for 12 months. They must also ship directly and keep records for five years. Customs can verify claims under CAROTAR rules, and minor documentation errors do not void a claim.
What to watch
Several markers will show how smoothly this works. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade must decide how to allocate quota licences fairly to small importers, and customs must catch under-invoicing designed to dodge the price floors. Monthly quota use will show real demand. Meanwhile, Indian exporters will need to meet New Zealand’s sanitary standards for their zero-duty access to count.
Encouragingly, India gets full access to a new market while shielding its most sensitive farm sectors. Ultimately, the first quarter of trade data after 20 October will show how quickly exports respond.
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