Sanjeev Joshipura, Sreekumar Nair & Mallika Janakiraman
From the Indiaspora Forum, Abu Dhabi
Report received on June 7, 2025
“Working hard in India to hit it out of the park for Kiwis,” was how New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon captioned one of his Instagram posts on playing Gully Cricket with underprivileged children in New Delhi while on his first official state visit to India from March 16 to March 20, 2025.
Unwittingly perhaps, he very succinctly outlined his government’s intent behind the recent outreach to India: that New Zealand is looking to refresh its ties with the South Asian giant.
Modest bilateral trade
But if this relationship is to evolve truly, Cricket can no longer be the main connector. The time has come for New Zealand to move beyond standard FTA dialogues, and fast.
The visit by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters to New Delhi on May 30, 2025 also offered a timely opportunity to inject real strategic intent into the bilateral relationship and signal a shift from symbolic gestures to substantive collaboration.
Despite longstanding ties, the economic relationship between India and New Zealand remains modest. India is New Zealand’s 12th largest trading partner, with bilateral trade standing at a modest $3.14 billion (2024), with exports worth only $1.54 billion.
New Zealand’s exports to India have shown a declining trend since 2017, and in 2024, they merely matched levels from 2015. While India’s GDP doubled during this time, New Zealand exported less. In contrast, Australia has taken significant strides: India is its sixth largest export destination, with bilateral trade at US$ 24.1 billion in FY24, boosted by early economic agreements like ECTA.
However, that is not the end: New Zealand’s export basket to India remains narrow, heavily reliant on travel services (48%), with minor contributions from iron and steel, fruits and nuts, and wool. Meanwhile, high-growth sectors in India including Digital India, HealthTech, AgriFoodTech, and ClimateTech, offer vast and untapped opportunities.
Rising India
India logged a record 118 billion UPI transactions in 2023, has 380 million registered users on its e-Hospital platform, and has trained over 50 million people in digital skills through PMGDISHA. While New Zealand faces a shrinking workforce and STEM graduate shortages, India boasts a youth bulge that will continue well beyond 2078.
This demographic synergy, coupled with India’s appetite for innovation and partnership, makes the case for a modern India–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) stronger than ever. But to seize this moment, New Zealand must look beyond its traditional export pillars and reimagine itself as a co-investor in India’s growth story. How can it do so? By investing in the enduring strength of soft power. In this context, we proffer the following ways.
Under-leveraged Diaspora
First, New Zealand is home to a vibrant and growing Indian Diaspora, the third-largest ethnic community in the country. This group is not only economically active (its median personal income is $51,600 while the national average is $41,500) but culturally influential and well-integrated into Kiwi society. Yet, the Diaspora remains under-leveraged in shaping business, cultural, and policy connections. Drawing from successful diaspora-led models in the US and UAE, and best exemplified by Indiaspora Impact Reports, which document how the Diaspora drives change across sectors like philanthropy, policy, innovation, and climate action, New Zealand can create a Diaspora Partnership Forum to engage entrepreneurs, academics, and investors of Indian origin. This would not only unlock commercial and civic value but also build a resilient, values-driven platform for long-term engagement.
Women-led Entrepreneurship
Second, India is seeing a surge in women-led entrepreneurship, especially in digital-first sectors like HealthTech, EdTech, and social enterprises. A forward-looking trade agreement could include gender-smart clauses, such as provisions for supporting women-owned SMEs, funding joint women-led startups, or enabling mentorship programmes across borders.
New Zealand’s global reputation for gender equity could be a soft power asset in shaping policies that encourage inclusive innovation ecosystems from STEM scholarships to co-funded research fellowships for women scientists and entrepreneurs.
Third, for New Zealand to outpace its neighbourhood in its outreach to India, it must leverage the power of soft diplomacy strategically as well. Institutions like the Asia New Zealand Foundation and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations could collaborate on residencies, cultural showcases, and language exchanges that reinforce soft power ties.
On global platforms like the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and International Solar Alliance (ISA), soft diplomacy grounded in shared values can enhance coordination on issues like climate resilience, equitable tech access, and gender inclusion. India’s New Education Policy (NEP) opens avenues for joint degree programs, student and faculty mobility, and research partnerships, which New Zealand’s universities can tap into to not only build institutional bridges but also gain long-term geopolitical goodwill.
As this new phase of engagement takes shape, platforms like Indiaspora with its global credibility, expansive network, and cross-sectoral initiatives can play a vital role in catalysing these shifts. With a presence across the US, India, Southeast Asia, and the Gulf, Indiaspora is uniquely positioned to support both bilateral and multilateral partnerships, convene Diaspora leaders, and serve as a trusted bridge between governments, businesses, and civil society.
Therefore, to operationalise the vision mentioned in the argument above, we propose a five-point policy roadmap for strengthening India-NZ relations that could include:
A New India Innovation Track in agritech, climate tech, and digital health.
The Business and Innovation Forum
A Diaspora Business and Innovation Forum. Here, we would like to highlight Indiaspora’s Annual Forum, the first edition of which (Indiaspora Forum for Good 2025/ IFG 2025) was held in Abu Dhabi on February 23, 2025 and convened 500 leaders from 34 countries to discuss various topics including responsible AI, climate resilience, healthcare innovations, geopolitics, trade, academia, philanthropy, sports, arts, and much more. Notably, the New Zealand flag was represented at this Forum, with Mallika Janakiraman contributing to the dialogue.
The next Forum is planned to be held in India in March 2026.
A Women in Innovation Fellowship for cross-border entrepreneurship.
Deeper academic exchanges aligned with India’s NEP.
A Soft Diplomacy Protocol coordinated by both countries’ foreign ministries.
While Cricket has long been the most visible thread linking India and New Zealand in the public imagination, it is time to move beyond the boundary. The aforementioned areas can help align interests pragmatically by fostering influence, resilience, and cooperation where formal policy may take time to catch up. The real opportunity lies in building enduring partnerships and by investing strategically in these pillars of soft diplomacy and future-facing trade, New Zealand can establish a distinctive and respected presence in India.
Sanjeev Joshipura is the Executive Director at Indiaspora, a global network of leaders of Indian origin dedicated to inspiring the diaspora to be a force for good through collective action in business, philanthropy, policy, and beyond. Sreekumar Nair is the CEO-India & SVP-Global East at Indiaspora. Mallika Janakiraman is the Director of nutriQ360, a forward-thinking Boutique Company dedicated to advancing the food, functional nutrition, and nutraceutical sectors.
