AfricaAsia NorthAsia South and SoutheastBangladeshBruneiCambodiaIndiaIndonesiaLaosMalaysiaMaldivesMyanmarNepalPakistanPhilippinesSingaporeSri LankaThailandTimor LesteViet NamAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastNorth AmericaPacific
Start writing the country or territory name in the box. Typing more letters narrows the search. Click "go" or hit "Enter" to go to the information paper on the country or territory.
(We don't have information papers on all countries and territories.)
Relations with New Zealand
India Overview
Drawing on a shared history, India and New Zealand have much in common - the English language, parliamentary democracy, a broadly similar legal system with an emphasis on the rule of law, Commonwealth ties, a fondness for cricket and our admiration for Sir Edmund Hillary.
The relationship with India is growing and expanding. Underpinning the bilateral trade and economic profiles described above sits a wide range of bilateral cooperation.
In recent years there has been an increase in high level visits between New Zealand and India reflecting the greater importance both sides are now placing on the relationship.
India’s economic growth has been matched by an expansion in New Zealand’s trade and economic relationship with India. There is potential for growth in tourism, education, business interaction, timber exports, in niche products and consultancy services. There has been solid growth in the number of Indian visitors and students. India’s outreach to its diaspora has also served to strengthen people to people ties.
India's "Look East" policy, and its participation in regional institutions such as the East Asia Summit (EAS) and ASEAN Regional Forum mean that India and New Zealand are increasingly interacting in the regional context. India’s interest extends to the Pacific Island states and in 2003 India became a dialogue partner of the Pacific Forum. Our common membership of the EAS has also provided a high level platform for bilateral dialogue, including on climate change. Other issues include our interests in United Nations reform, Commonwealth matters, human rights, Alliance of Civilisations, counter-terrorism and other transnational issues.
There are a number of bilateral treaties in force between New Zealand and India the earliest of which date from 1963 and covering a range of areas including air services, double taxation and wool purchasing. In terms of bilateral arrangements of less-than-treaty status, there are arrangements on areas including agriculture, plant quarantine, information technology, education, and the recent Joint Understanding on Science and Technology Cooperation signed during Minister Anderton’s visit to India in March 2008.top of page
India was New Zealand’s twenty third largest trading partner and twenty second most important destination for merchandise exports in the year to December 2007. New Zealand’s merchandise exports to India for that period totalled $NZ 366 million, an increase of 133% on New Zealand’s exports to India in 2003.
The principal New Zealand export items to India are primary commodities. Coal has been the main driver of the increase in New Zealand exports to India ($NZ 117 million in the year to December 2007). Wool, as an input into Indian carpets, has traditionally been the main New Zealand export to India but its relative importance is declining (as exports remain stable at around NZ$60 million per year). Log exports and wood pulp continue to strengthen, along with leather, fruit products and laboratory equipment.
The trade base is diversifying, with a greater emphasis on niche or specialised manufactured products. Electric transformers, sorting machinery, transmission and telecommunications equipment all now feature in New Zealand’s top twenty exports to India.
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise opened a new office in Mumbai in February 2008. This was formally opened in late March 2008.
Tourism, education and film have been the mainstay of services trade with India. Indian visitor arrivals to New Zealand have grown consistently since mid-2004. As of year ending January 2008 there were 22,244 visitors from India, 9.5% growth over the previous year. These visitors contribute around NZ$70 million per annum to the economy. A Tourism New Zealand office was opened in Mumbai in March 2003.
Over 120 Indian film crews have undertaken filming in New Zealand, with positive spin off for New Zealand’s profile in India.
In the education sector, 4,000 Indian students were studying in New Zealand in 2007, up from less than 200 in 1998, and contributing around NZ$100 million per annum to the economy. An Education Cooperation Agreement was signed between New Zealand and India in 2005. Reflecting the growing importance of the education relationship, a position of Education Counsellor was established at the New Zealand High Commission in 2006.
An Air Services Agreement was signed during Trevor Mallard’s visit to India in May 2006. Under the Agreement New Zealand and India can each operate direct aircraft services between Mumbai and Auckland, with the option of using Australia, Singapore or Hong Kong as intermediate points. Additionally, New Zealand carriers can code-share to five Indian cities (Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata) and Indian carriers can code-share to five New Zealand cities (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin). These code share services can also be via Australia, Singapore, or Hong Kong.
High tariffs on items of interest to New Zealand, particularly value-added products, continue to restrict our exports. In recent years, however, India’s average applied tariff rate has reduced in line with its tariff policy and WTO commitments. India’s employment of non-tariff barriers, particularly sanitary and phytosanitary (quarantine) barriers, have also restricted New Zealand exports to India. top of page
The India/New Zealand Joint Business Council (JBC) was established in 1988. The JBC brings together the business sectors of both countries for a stock taking which also looks ahead to future possibilities.
Officials met in New Delhi in June 1987 for the first meeting of the New Zealand/India Joint Trade Committee (JTC), which was established under the New Zealand/India Trade Agreement signed during the visit of Rajiv Gandhi to New Zealand in October 1986. The purpose of the JTC is to discuss and negotiate bilateral trade policy and trade access issues.
The JTC and the JBC met in Wellington in late October 2007. At the JTC, Indian and New Zealand officials agreed on the Terms of Reference (TOR) for a study to consider a possible New Zealand/India Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The first meeting of the Joint Study Group (JSG) was held in early April in New Delhi. The second meeting was held in Auckland in May with the third meeting took place India in August. The fourth and final meeting is scheduled to take place in New Zealand in September. Officials will aim to conclude the study by October 2008.
New Zealand has modest but warm defence links with India. Most bilateral defence interaction occurs between the two navies. Most recently HMNZS Te Mana visited Mumbai in August 2008. Earlier, HMNZS Te Mana and Endeavour visited Port Blair in the Andaman Islands in May 2007 following exercises with Indian naval ships; HMNZS Te Mana visited Kochi and Mumbai ports in June 2006; and the Indian ship Tabar visited Auckland in 2006. HMNZS Te Mana is planning a visit to Mumbai in August .
New Zealand has useful defence interaction with India in the ASEAN Regional Forum, through the defence dialogue process and through the Forum’s range of confidence-building measures.
India has passed legislation that allows dual citizenship or “overseas citizenship of India” to citizens of a number of countries including New Zealand. Within New Zealand there are some 120,000 citizens of Indian descent/origin, many of whom have achieved considerable prominence in New Zealand society.top of page
The Asia New Zealand Foundation has organised highly successful Diwali Festivals to celebrate the Indian festival of lights, since 2002. The Diwali Festivals are well-attended and have become one of the largest annual events in the Auckland and Wellington calendars. The New Zealand International Festival of the Arts has also featured Indian artists and in each of the last three years there have been Indian entries in the World of Wearable Art show in Wellington (with a now annual World of Wearable Art event taking place at the New Zealand High Commission in New Delhi in conjunction with the Fashion Design Council of India).
In May 2003, as part of India’s celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the ascent of Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary was honoured by the Indian government. A plaque was presented to Sir Edmund Hillary by the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and two roads in front of the New Zealand High Commission in New Delhi were named after Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. In January 2008, Sir Edmund Hillary was posthumously awarded the “Padma Vibhushan”, one of India’s highest civilian honours.
In September 2008, during the visit of the New Zealand Governor-General to India, an annual ‘Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship’ was launched. Such a fellowship would facilitate the visit to New Zealand of influential decision-makers from India and Nepal.
New Zealand and India also have strong cricketing relations. New Zealand and Indian cricket teams play each other frequently at various international arenas and also tour each others’ countries regularly. In 2009, the Indian cricket team will tour New Zealand. A former New Zealand opening batsman, John Wright, was the first international coach of the Indian cricket team. The new Indian 20/20 League, in which New Zealand players participate, has attracted wide interest in New Zealand and worldwide.
In October this year, the Commonwealth “Youth” Games will be held in Pune attracting the participation of some 60 young New Zealand competitors. In 2010 India will host the Commonwealth Games. top of page
Land Area - 3.3 million sq km - Population - 1,112,000,000 - Capital City - New Delhi - Religion - Hindus make up 82% of the population. 11% are Muslim and 2.4% are Christian. The remainder consist of Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and others - Official Language - Hindi is one of the official languages. English is the most widely spoken and the business language. There are about 18 other major languages and 844 different dialects.
Political system - India is a constitutional democracy with a bicameral legislature. India is a union of 28 states, each with their own legislature and state government. In addition, India has 7 Union Territories.
At the centre, the Indian system is modelled on the Westminster system. The lower house is elected by universal adult suffrage. The President of India is the Head of the Union, but acts in accordance with the advice of the Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister.
In the states, the Governor is Head of the Executive, but it is the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister in whom real executive power vests.
National government - United Progressive Alliance (dominant party: Indian National Congress) - National legislature - Bicameral legislature with 245 members in the Rajya Sabha or the upper house and 545 members in the Lok Sabha or the lower house. - Last election - April/May 2004 - Next election due - May 2009 - Head of State - President Smt Pratibha Devisingh Patil - Head of Government - Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh
GDP - US$914 billion (2006-2007) - GDP per capita -US$800 - Real GDP Growth 9.4% (2006-2007) - Exports - US$126.3 billion (2006-2007) - Imports - US$190.5 billion (2006-2007) - Main exports - Garments and Textiles; Gems and Jewellery; Engineering goods; Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals - Current account - US$9.6 billion deficit (2006-2007) - Inflation – 5.9 % (2006-2007) - Gross external debt - US$155 billion (2006-2007) - Government Deficit – 6.1% of GDP (2006-2007)
NZ Exports (FOB) - NZ$366 million (for year ending December 2007) - Main Exports – Coal 32%; Wood (mainly Logs) 18%; Wool 16%; Machinery 7%; Leather and hides 6% - NZ Imports (CIF) - NZ$269 million (for year ending December 2007) - Main Imports - Diamonds 11%; Electrical machinery 6%; Textiles 4%
India attained independence from Britain on 15 August 1947 and, at the same time, the sub-continent was partitioned into India and Pakistan. India became a republic on 26 January 1950. Jawaharlal Nehru, the country's first prime minister and leader of the Congress party, remained prime minister until his death in 1964. Nehru's daughter, Mrs Indira Gandhi, became prime minister in 1966 and, except for a brief period of two years from 1977-1979, remained in power until her assassination on 31 October 1984. She was succeeded by her son, Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated by the separatist Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers in June 1991.
The Congress party has been a powerful force in Indian politics since before independence. Its membership transcends religious, ethnic and caste lines, and is associated with Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. After more than four decades of almost uninterrupted Congress rule since independence, India entered a phase of coalition governments in 1989.
This period saw several years of unstable coalitions, until the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in September 1999. The BJP had emerged in the late 1980s. It became a vehicle for northern upper caste Hindu aspirations. The party has strongly nationalistic elements and is supportive of economic reforms.
top of page
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA), lead by the Congress party came to power in May 2004. It is dependent on outside support of the left parties. Congress’s Dr Manmohan Singh, architect of the 1991 economic reforms, was sworn in as the prime minister of the government after Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress Party, decided not to take up the position. Sonia Gandhi remains the leader of the party.
There is broad political consensus in favour of economic reforms in India, particularly in the two main national political parties, the BJP and the Congress. But the left parties, who are backed by strong labour unions, have opposed a number of economic reform initiatives proposed by the government.
The Indian economy is vast: a population of over one billion with a resource-rich land mass. It is the third largest economy in the world in purchasing power parity terms after the US and China.
India encompasses a wide spectrum of economic activity, ranging from high technology to subsistence agriculture. Indigenous technological achievements extend to fields such as nuclear energy, space and satellite communications, superconductors and deep sea oil drilling.
At the same time, some 60% of India's population still depend on agriculture for their livelihood, annual GDP per head is a low US$800 and India was ranked 128th on the United Nations human development index in 2007/08. The overall literacy rate of India's population is 61%.
Attempts at reform up to the 1980s failed to change the inward orientation of the economy. A balance of payments crisis in 1991 set in train a process of economic reform (primarily implemented by Dr Manmohan Singh, then Finance Minister). This involved opening up the economy to foreign investment, relaxing some foreign exchange controls, and allowing substantial liberalisation in the financial sector.
These changes have had impressive results. India has become the second fastest growing economy in the world after China with an impressive GDP growth of over 9% since 2006 after a decade of about 6% growth.top of page
Ministerial visits in both directions are a valuable way of enhancing political connections and bringing the relationship to the forefront. On the New Zealand side, since the Prime Minister’s visit to India in October 2004, there has been increased Ministerial interaction.
The Safetravel website provides a travel advisory for travellers to India [external link].
