A key aspiration of this vision is that women are expected to take a much more proactive role in shaping policy, leading innovations and creating unique business opportunities globally for India, as entrepreneurs.
India will add more people to its middle class over the next two decades than the entire population of New Zealand, several times over. The realisation of Viksit Bharat will change the size of opportunities for the next decade of growth for New Zealand’s exporters, investors and service providers.
Dr Madan Mohan Sethi, Consul General of India in Auckland.
As India moves toward “Viksit Bharat” by 2047, New Zealand can be its potential southern anchor – securing not just a large market for its products and expertise, but also exploring strategic partnerships that will ensure shared prosperity for both.
As we see it, businesses in New Zealand think of India through the lens of commodities. The top five commodity exports from New Zealand to India include fruits and nuts, forestry and wood, aluminium, wool, iron and steel. However, this framing understates the scale of opportunity.
India’s own technology roadmap for 2047 envisages the service sector holding around 60% of GDP, with electronics, chemicals, energy, automotive and semiconductors singled out as the strategic growth sectors of the next two decades.
This is a profile suited to what New Zealand does well: knowledge-intensive, small-batch, service-heavy exports rather than bulk commodity volumes.
India’s workforce is expected to add roughly 200 million people over the coming years, and the Government’s push on skilling and vocational training creates real demand for New Zealand’s tertiary and vocational education providers, who compete on quality and pathway-to-work outcomes rather than scale.
We have visited more than 10-12 universities and vocational training centres in Auckland and Hamilton. We see lots of opportunities to train a skilled Indian workforce.
New Zealand has a highly developed agricultural and food ecosystem. The firms have strength in farm-management technology, food-safety traceability systems and precision-agriculture which can be shared and adapted into an Indian agricultural sector that is being reformed toward high productivity.
New Zealand growers and scientists can work closely with their Indian counterparts to help grow the kiwifruit and apple industries.
One example is the partnership between QLBS, a New Zealand-based compliance and visibility platform already integrated into Zespri’s kiwifruit supply chain, and Map My Crop, an Indian agritech company with operations in more than 100 countries.
This was recently formalised in Auckland through a memorandum of understanding.
India’s renewable energy target of 500GW by 2030, rising toward 900GW-plus by 2040, is a build-out that needs specialist engineering, geothermal expertise and project-management capability – areas where New Zealand firms already operate.
We have also visited industries who are converting bio-organic and plastic waste into fuel and energy. Here New Zealand companies can partner with Indian companies.
Wellness, health and tourism services: India’s growing middle class is a significant source of outbound tourism. Similarly, New Zealand can also look towards India for exploring India’s rich heritage, culture, city life as well as seeking medical treatment in world-class hospitals.
As India’s per-capita income rises, so does demand for specialist advisory, insurance, and financial services expertise. Already, a small number of capable New Zealand firms are engaged.
The best example is that of Valocity, a New Zealand-owned property data and technology company that won the prestigious award of International Fintech of the Year 2025, for revolutionising the property valuation process in India.
We are aware that businesses in New Zealand are waiting for the right time to enter the Indian market — once regulatory pathways simplify, logistics improve and the policy environment settles.
The instinct is understandable, but it also describes exactly the period in which the first-mover businesses build the relationships, distribution networks and local knowledge that are hardest for later entrants to replicate.
Indian companies and consumers are not waiting for perfect conditions to grow; competitors from Australia, the Gulf states, the UK and Europe are already positioning in sectors New Zealand firms could credibly contest.
The economic complementarity between our countries is striking. India is rapidly consolidating its role as a hub for world trade, a dynamic marketplace, an emerging manufacturing base, and a central node in global supply chains.
New Zealand brings its own distinctive strengths: trusted food and agriculture systems, world-class standards in safety and sustainability, and a reputation for provenance that commands a premium in discerning markets.
When these strengths are combined, the possibilities are significant.
Joint ventures in functional foods, nutrition and agritech that draw on India’s scale and New Zealand’s quality; integrated supply chains where Indian processing facilities partner with New Zealand research and branding; and collaborative ventures that use India as a launchpad into wider Asian and Gulf markets.
Rather than viewing distance as a barrier, the FTA invites businesses on both sides to see geography as an asset – a bridge between the Indo-Pacific and the broader global economy.
In April 2026, New Zealand and India signed a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) that aligns with India’s 2047 vision and areas where New Zealand businesses can leverage.
Rather than viewing distance as a barrier, the FTA invites businesses on both sides to see geography as an asset – a bridge between the Indo-Pacific and the broader global economy.
The real innovative aspect of this is the shift from “trade in goods” to “partnerships in capital”, where the value cannot be easily quantified by pure economic metrics. While it awaits formal enforcement and ratification, businesses that treat India as a long-horizon relationship to build sector by sector, with a focus on partnerships will be better placed than others.
India’s economic growth miracle
India has been a key driver of global economic growth over the past five years.
It has been the fastest-growing economy in the world, surpassing that of New Zealand’s largest trading partners in 2025, and is expected to do so in 2026 and 2027, according to the latest IMF projections.
This growth story demonstrates remarkable resilience amidst rising global uncertainties.
India is the third-largest economy in the world based on purchasing power parity. In 2015, India’s economy was less than half the size of the US (39.4%); by 2025, it had reached nearly 62%.
Against this backdrop, two-way goods and services trade between New Zealand with India has been growing steadily post-Covid from $2.2 billion in 2021 to $3.9b to the year ended March 2026.
However, this represents only 1.8% of all exports of New Zealand’s total goods and services and 1.5% of imports. India is New Zealand’s 11th largest overall trading partner.
The asymmetry between the current bilateral trade and India’s growth story, is exactly why New Zealand businesses should pay more attention to deepening and diversifying their trade and economic relationship with India now.
The case for India, from the perspective of an open economy such as New Zealand, is an economic one. A market of 1.4 billion consumers growing at above 6% annually, driven by several states within India growing at an average rate of above 10%.
This unlocks opportunities for New Zealand to grow its exports, scale-up business knowledge and deepen people-to-people connections where partnerships will bring long-term benefits for the New Zealand economy.
When we analyse India from an economic and commercial point of view, the following points deserve attention.
India’s manufacturing sector remains in expansion mode and the aviation sector is seeing steady growth. India currently generates 50% of its energy from renewable sources, and India has moved to 38th position in the Global Innovation Index 2025.The mining sector has expanded by 5.5%, the manufacturing sector by 4.3%, electricity generation by 0.8%. Within manufacturing, 14 out of 23 industry groups recorded growth in March 2026. In the same time, agriculture grew by 3.1%, the services sector by 9.1%.India is primarily a domestic-driven economy with consumption and investment contributing 70% of the economic activity.India’s cumulative foreign direct investment stood at US$1.14 trillion in December 2025. Singapore was the largest investor (25%), Mauritius (24%), the US (10%), the Netherlands (7%) and Japan (6%) were significant players.
At government level, new initiatives like the export promotion mission, Startup India, Make in India, the National Corridor Development Programme, AI data centres and Establishing Technology Semiconductor Assembly are accelerating India’s growth and development.
The Make in India initiative has achieved tremendous success since its inception in 2014.
FDI has shown a consistent upward trend from US$45.14b in 2014-15 to US$70.95b in 2023-24.
Among the sectors where investment is needed are aerospace, aviation, biotechnology, chemicals, construction, defence manufacturing, electronics manufacturing, food processing, gems and jewellery, IT, leather, media and entertainment, mining, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, ports, shipping, renewable energy, tourism, textiles, hospitality and wellness.
New Zealand companies having strength in some of the sectors can explore investment in India.
The Indian Consulate’s mandate is to promote trade and commerce, seek investment, promote tourism, establish collaboration in higher education, promote culture and further people-to-people connections.
In the last 18 months, the consulate has expanded its reach to business, universities, Māori and Pasifika. The consulate is ready to support Kiwi businesses entering the Indian market for products, technology and services.