India-New Zealand FTA to Boost Jobs and Trade: PM Luxon

• India-New Zealand FTA finalized, boosting trade, exports, employment, and Indo-Pacific engagement.
• The agreement grants tariff-free access, benefiting Indian MSMEs and labour-intensive industries.
• New visa route enables skilled Indian professionals in the New Zealand sectors.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has called the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India a significant achievement, emphasizing that it will lead to increased employment, higher wages, and more exports to Indian markets. India and New Zealand have finalized an extensive, equitable, and future-oriented Free Trade Agreement (FTA), representing a significant economic and strategic achievement in India's involvement with the Indo-Pacific area.

The agreement was reached after ongoing and vigorous discussions conducted across five formal negotiation rounds, along with multiple in-person and virtual sessions in between. The FTA creates a robust economic alliance that supports job creation, enables skill mobility, stimulates growth through trade and investment, encourages innovation in agricultural productivity, and boosts MSMEs involvement to reinforce long-term economic stability.

The FTA removes tariffs on all tariff lines, granting duty-free entry for all exports from India. According to the commerce ministry, this market access improves the competitiveness of labour-intensive sectors in India, such as textiles, apparel, leather, footwear, marine products, gems and jewellery, handicrafts, engineering goods, and automobiles, directly benefiting Indian workers, artisans, women, youth, and MSMEs, while further integrating them into global value chains.

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In addition to tariff liberalization, the FTA contains clauses aimed at tackling non-tariff barriers via improved regulatory collaboration, transparency, and more efficient customs, Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary (SPS) regulations, and Technical Barriers to Trade rules. All systemic support and expedited processes for imports that function as inputs for manufactured exports guarantee that tariff reductions lead to genuine and significant market access.

The FTA establishes skilled employment opportunities via a new Temporary Employment Entry Visa route for Indian professionals in skilled fields, featuring a cap of 5,000 visas available at once and a maximum duration of three years. This route encompasses Indian jobs such as AYUSH practitioners, yoga teachers, Indian cooks, and music educators, alongside in-demand areas such as IT, engineering, healthcare, education, and construction, enhancing workforce mobility and service trade.