New Delhi: A host of Indian goods from labour-intensive sectors such as leather, footwear, apparel and textiles will attract zero import duty in New Zealand from October 20, when the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes into force, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.
The agreement, signed on April 27, provides duty-free access for 100 per cent of India's exports to New Zealand from Tuesday, he told reporters.
The pact, he said, would also facilitate investments worth $20 billion from New Zealand to India over the next 15 years.
He said the pact would provide huge opportunities for Indian exporters.
Flagging off a small excavator made by heavy earthmoving and construction equipment manufacturer JCB India, which will be exported to New Zealand under the trade pact, Goyal said the company exports 25 per cent of its total production to different countries from India.
“I am giving them a target to increase it to 50 per cent. New Zealand is now the 140th export destination for them,” he said.
The pact also establishes an agricultural productivity partnership under which New Zealand's technology will meet India's scale and growing demand.
Goyal added that sensitive sectors such as dairy, onions, chickpeas, peas, corn, almonds, artificial honey and sugar had been kept out of the trade deal.
The Commerce Ministry has notified the procedure for allocating tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) under the trade agreement. Goods covered by the TRQs include apples, kiwifruit, albumins and Manuka honey.
