1. India and New Zealand Begin Fourth Round of FTA Negotiations

From November 3 to 7, 2025, India and New Zealand are holding the fourth round of negotiations in Auckland for their proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The discussions aim to advance toward a balanced, comprehensive, and mutually beneficial partnership, further strengthening bilateral economic ties.

Key Points

Focus Areas: The current round emphasizes key domains such as Trade in Goods, Trade in Services, and Rules of Origin.
Pending Issues: Both sides are working to resolve outstanding matters from earlier rounds to facilitate an early conclusion of the agreement.
Renewed Momentum: The negotiations gained fresh momentum following New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s visit to India in March 2025, where both nations reaffirmed their intent to deepen economic engagement.
FTA Launch: The formal launch of the FTA process took place on March 16, 2025, during a meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister and New Zealand’s Trade and Investment Minister
Shared Optimism: Officials from both nations expressed confidence in developing a forward-looking and inclusive trade framework promoting sustainable growth and shared prosperity.
Expected Benefits: Once finalized, the FTA is expected to enhance market access, boost trade and investment flows, and create new collaboration opportunities in technology, agriculture, and services sectors.

Key Points

Technology Focus: The roadmap proposes the use of climate-resilient seeds, digital twins, precision agriculture, agentic AI, and advanced mechanisation to drive agricultural innovation.
Farmer Segmentation: Farmers are categorised into three archetypes—aspiring, transitioning, and advanced—to enable customised interventions suited to their scale and capabilities.
Vision and Goals: The initiative aims to enhance agricultural resilience, promote inclusive rural prosperity, and strengthen India’s global competitiveness in agri-tech, aligning with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.

The initiative aims to create a private sector–driven research ecosystem and accelerate India’s emergence as a global science and technology hub.

Key Points

Event Overview: The Prime Minister inaugurated ESTIC 2025, welcoming scientists, innovators, academics, and global experts to collaborate and shape India’s technological future.
Objective of ESTIC 2025: The conclave seeks to encourage global collaboration in emerging science and technology, uniting experts to guide the exponential pace of 21st-century innovation.
RDI Scheme Details: The ₹1 lakh crore RDI Scheme will fund high-risk, high-impact projects, strengthen collaboration between government, industry, and academia, and enhance the ease of doing research.
India’s R&D Growth: India’s R&D expenditure has doubled in the past decade, patent filings have risen 17-fold, and the country has become the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem with over 6,000 deep-tech ventures.
Women in Science: PM Modi highlighted rising female participation, noting that patent filings by women have increased from fewer than 100 annually to over 5,000, with 43% of STEM enrolments now being women.
Education and Research Initiatives: The Prime Minister announced the expansion of Atal Tinkering Labs from 10,000 to 25,000 and 10,000 new Prime Minister’s Research Fellowships over five years. Seven new IITs and sixteen IIITs have also been established

The talks aim to resolve pending issues and move toward a balanced and comprehensive trade framework.

Key Points

Focus Areas: Discussions are centred on trade in goods and services, rules of origin, and various technical and institutional matters to develop a “modern, robust, and future-ready” FTA.
Ministerial Engagements: The talks follow Commerce and Industry Minister visit to Brussels (October 27–28), where he met EU Trade Commissioner to reaffirm mutual commitment to advancing negotiations.
High-Level Consultations: Director-General for Trade at the European Commission, will visit New Delhi (November 5–6) for meetings with Commerce Secretary to address technical and policy-level concerns.
Shared Vision: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry emphasized that both sides are determined to achieve a fair, equitable, and forward-looking FTA that strengthens trade, investment, innovation, and supports sustainable economic growth.