Photo: AFP
New Zealand is set to send one of its largest ever prime ministerial delegations to India shortly.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced the four-day trip to Delhi and Mumbai as part of efforts to strengthen relations between the two countries and possibly look to secure a free trade deal.
It is a market that Geoff Allott knows well, having been involved in the export of New Zealand goods - including sheepmeat, seafood, and dairy - to India for over a decade.
Allott, a former Black Cap, is the executive director and co-founder of QualityNZ.
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QaulityNZ was established 12 years ago, along with other cricketers including patron Sir Richard Hadlee and Ambassadors Stephen Fleming, Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori who are shareholders and ambassadors.
Connections formed on the cricket pitch certainly helped the team gain entry to the market, Allott told Country Life.
"The passion that India has for cricket - it's almost a religion over there - and it certainly opens doors, it starts conversations. It helps build those relationships."
Taking the time to build relationships is critical to doing business in India, he explained, adding even then it could be challenging.
They spent 18 months doing their due diligence and gaining an understanding of existing supply chain models as well as food safety requirements before setting up.
"For us it's about building the business and the infrastructure within India so we can almost become a gateway to India for other New Zealand producers, products and services."
Geoff Allott, is the executive director and co-founder of Quality New Zealand, and a former Black Cap. Photo: John Davidson / Supplied
QualityNZ's focus is on sheepmeat which carry heavy tariffs of about 33 percent - they are the exclusive supplier of Alliance farmers' sheep meat to the Indian and Southern Asian regions.
QualityNZ also offers services relating skill development, student mobility, and vocational training.
They trade in 46 cities and have over 500 customers, supplying to 90 percent of all 5-star hotels in India.
"The vastness of India means as well it's actually quite different in the north as it is in the south," Allott explained.
He said this is one of the reasons it was so important for people to do their research and understand how New Zealand can add value and developing appropriate strategies accordingly.
"[India is] the second largest beef producer in the world, they're the largest dairy producer in the world, they might be second largest seafood - there isn't many goods around the world that are traded that India doesn't have a mass play or involvement in. It's a question of how can we help improve efficiencies, how can we help improve quality.
"And that might be through technology, it might be through education. These things will make a difference."
Allott said this meant it might mean developing strategy sector by sector.
He said it had taken Australia a long time to develop its Free Trade Agreement with India - signed in 2022 - but that demonstrated the importance of relationships and perseverance.
"My view is we've actually got to go in, have those discussions and understand what India want.
"The mistake that New Zealand would make is to assume our practices apply automatically in a country like India."
Allott was excited to see New Zealand putting in effort to do the same, adding the PM visit - the first since 2016 - was "huge".
He said New Zealand needed to prove the value it could offer "a massive burgeoning country like India" - it's set to be the world third largest economy by 2030, it was the 10th largest when QualityNZ started over a decade ago.
"Prime Minister Modi wants to turn the red tape into red carpet and welcome foreign direct investment and welcome other countries in to help India achieve what it's capable of achieving."
