India–NZ FTA tariff list: what is zero-duty, on both sides
Which Indian sectors gain in New Zealand, what NZ exports get cheaper in India, and the lines India kept out — with the notified numbers.
- India-NZ FTA
- Tariffs
- Exports
- Imports
The India–New Zealand FTA went live on 20 October 2026 with a lopsided shape that is easy to summarise and easy to misread: India got 100% of its tariff lines at zero duty into New Zealand from day one, and New Zealand won concessions on about 95% of its export lines into India — with a short, deliberate list of production and farm lines India simply refuses to open, and a curious little bundle of fruits, honey and proteins that open only through quotas and certificate conditions. Here is the sector picture, both directions, with the notified numbers behind it. The deal's overall shape is in the India–NZ FTA explainer; this post is the line-level view.
The baseline you should hold in mind
India–New Zealand goods trade is about US$1.3 billion a year (2024–25: India exported US$711.1 million worth, imported US$587.13 million). Two-way trade including services runs about NZ$3.95 billion. Both governments have set an aspirational target of NZ$7 billion by 2030, and New Zealand has committed to invest US$20 billion in India over 15 years.
Turn that into a trader's expectation: this is a premium, small-base market, not a volume explosion. New Zealand's tariffs were already among the world's lowest, with peaks up to 10% — so the FTA's real effect is to put Indian suppliers on an equal footing with countries New Zealand already trades with freely, in exactly the lines where those peaks sat. The level playing field is the prize; the paperwork (hence the origin rules and certificate) is what unlocks it.
India to New Zealand: 100% of tariff lines, from day one
No phasing schedule to decode — New Zealand eliminated every tariff line covering Indian exports on entry into force. Where the peaks were, that matters most, and the ministry's own shortlist of immediate gainers names the labour-intensive engines:
- Textiles and apparel — New Zealand's fastest-moving gain line; the peak tariffs sat precisely here, and India's supply base in cotton knits, wovens and home textiles is built for replenishment-style retail
- Leather and footwear — same shape: a peak-tariff category with an established Indian industrial base
- Gems and jewellery — a category where duty points measurably change landed cost in a niche retail market
- Engineering goods — components, fasteners, light machinery and electricals into NZ's industrial and construction economy
- Processed foods — the "farm to factory" line the agreement is being marketed on, with agri-processed products entering duty-free
- Pharmaceuticals — flagged by the government as an opportunity area as schedule access widened
And one asymmetry worth planning against: Indian manufacturers also gained zero-tariff inputs from New Zealand — wooden logs, coking coal and metal scrap. Even an exporter who has never shipped a container north benefits if their cost sheet imports any of those three.
New Zealand to India: the 95%, and the five special lines
Through CBIC Notification No. 32/2026-Customs (16 October 2026), India cut duties across roughly 95% of New Zealand's export lines — a main table of 8,546 entries whose highlights traders in those lines will feel quickly:
- Sheep meat (HS 0204): preferential 0% BCD, 0% AIDC, 0% health cess — the one animal-product family India opened completely, immediately
- Wine: slab-based on declared CIF value per 750 ml bottle — one duty structure between US$5–15, a better one at US$15 and above
- Pharmaceuticals, polymers, aluminium, iron and steel articles: reduced duties across broad industrial lines — relevant not just to importers but to Indian processors for whom NZ-sourced inputs now cost structurally less
- Kiwifruit: preferential 15% BCD only where CIF ≥ US$2.50/kg
- Manuka honey: a conditional reduced treatment that exists only against a certificate from New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries
What India kept out — read this list before you promise anyone anything
India's red lines are explicit and unmoved by the ceremony around the deal. Dairy — milk, cream, whey, yoghurt, cheese — along with animal products other than sheep meat, onions, chana (chickpeas), peas, corn, almonds, artificial honey and sugar remain outside the concession. A buyer importing any of those lines from New Zealand gets nothing from this FTA; their consignments clear at the standard rate regardless.
New Zealand, one of the world's largest dairy exporters, gained no dairy access — which tells you what India decided was non-negotiable, and which is also why the deal contains its farm-side token opening only as tariff-rate quotas:
| Product | In-quota duty | Quantity ramp |
|---|---|---|
| Apples (HS 0808.10) | 25% (prevailing: 50%) | NIL Year 1 → 35,000 t in Year 2 → 45,000 t from Year 6; window 1 April–31 August |
| Kiwifruit (HS 0810.50) | 0% where CIF ≥ US$1.80/kg | NIL Year 1 → 8,000 t in Year 2 → 15,000 t from Year 6; window 1 April–15 October |
| Manuka honey (HS 0409) | reduced, MPI-certified only | 40 t in Year 1 → 200 t from Year 2 |
| Albumins (HS 3502) | 10–11% by line | 200 t Year 1 → 3,000 t by Year 5 |
Pair the apple quota with the agreement's agricultural partnerships — centres of excellence for apples, kiwifruit and honey — and the design reads clearly: limited, window-controlled import openings at partial duties, alongside joint farm-productivity work at home. The process runs through a TRQ authorisation debited in ICES, which we detail in the importer's guide.
How to read the two tables for your own line
For an exporter: check the six-digit line for your product against New Zealand's rate schedule — but the operative work on the Indian side is the origin determination: 100% tariff-line coverage means your rate is settled; your qualification is not. Resolving the product-specific rule (wholly obtained, change in classification or value content) is the step that decides whether the buyer gets the zero rate at all — that is the origin rules post.
For an importer: read Notification 32/2026 column-wise for your exact tariff item — including the AIDC and cess columns, which do not always follow the BCD to zero — and then check whether your line carries a CIF value condition or lives inside a TRQ. The difference between the standard rate and the preferential one on kiwifruit, for instance, is a per-kilogram value line.
Frequently asked questions
Which Indian sectors gain most in New Zealand?
The ones where New Zealand's peak tariffs sat: textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, gems and jewellery, engineering goods and processed foods — all zero-duty from 20 October 2026. Pharmaceutical market access also widened.
What did India keep out of the FTA?
Dairy (milk, cream, whey, yoghurt, cheese) and animal products other than sheep meat, plus onions, chana, peas, corn, almonds, artificial honey and sugar. Consignments on those lines clear at the standard rate regardless of the agreement.
What gets cheaper when importing from New Zealand?
The headline openings: sheep meat (0% BCD, 0% AIDC, 0% health cess), wine (slab-based on declared bottle value), kiwifruit (15% BCD at CIF of US$2.50/kg or more), MPI-certified Manuka honey, and reduced rates across polymers, aluminium, iron and steel articles and pharmaceutical lines. Apples and kiwifruit additionally open at in-quota rates only within DGFT quantity windows.
The honest framing
India–New Zealand is a strategic-position trade: India locked a level playing field into its 100% day-one opening; New Zealand bought access worth having through investment commitments, services and mobility openings — the agreement carries a Temporary Employment Entry pathway for Indian professionals (5,000 in-country at any time, up to three years) and uncapped student access with post-study work rights — while India kept its farm red lines almost entirely. For the exporter, the market is premium, English-speaking, paperwork-familiar and genuinely simpler than most: one certificate, 100% lines, no phase-in arithmetic.
But that is exactly why the winners will be defined by execution: the goods that qualified, the certificate that arrived with the consignment, the value condition that was met. The tariff list is a set of invitations. The paperwork is the RSVP.