A 20-member Māori delegation is travelling to India just weeks after New Zealand and the South Asian nation announced the conclusion of free trade negotiations. Photo: Supplied
A Māori delegation of business and community leaders, chefs, educators and a kapa haka group is travelling to India this week in a bid to explore business opportunities and deepen cultural ties.
Members of a 20-member delegation began travelling to India on Sunday, with the rest departing at later dates, marking what is believed to be the first Māori delegation to the country with culture at its core.
The visit comes weeks after India and New Zealand announced they had concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement following the recommencement of talks in March 2025.
India's consul general in Auckland, Madan Mohan Sethi, said the visit was significant.
"This will be the first time that a Māori delegation comprising a cultural troupe and business representatives will be visiting India," Sethi said.
"While the visit is not directly linked, it is significant in the context of the recent announcement of the India and New Zealand FTA."
Indian Consul General Madan Mohan Sethi Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom
Sethi said Māori businesses were an integral part of New Zealand's economy and foreign trade.
"As per available reports, the Māori business economy is valued at over $100 billion, with activities spanning hospitality, food production, horticulture, dairy, fisheries, forestry, small manufacturing and tourism," he said.
"With bilateral trade between India and New Zealand on an upward trajectory, and the FTA having been announced by both sides, trade volumes are expected to increase further."
Delegation member Otene Hopa said the visit was distinct from previous government-led trade missions.
"The 20-member delegation is the first ever Māori-led delegation to India with culture in the forefront," Hopa said.
Hopa said the group included iwi and community leaders, chefs, business representatives and members of the Whiria Collective.
He said India remained an important and largely untapped market for Māori businesses.
"We've had the Indian community as part of Aotearoa for a few generations now," he said.
"Strengthening those connections and experiencing the diversity and vibrancy of Indian culture is something Māori are very open to and excited about."
Rather than targeting specific sectors, Hopa said the delegation was approaching India with an open mind.
"India is an open book for us," he said.
"We're looking at the country as a whole and then seeing where opportunities emerge."
The delegation included prominent Māori chefs Hera Te Kurapa and Irihei Walker, as well as kapa haka group Te Pikikōtuku o Ngāti Rongomai, which led cultural exchanges through dance and storytelling.
Hopa said the presence of community leaders such as Tracey Panapa and David Panapa from Te Māhurehure Marae in Point Chevalier, as well as Māori educators who are principals of kura kaupapa Māori, added depth to the delegation.
"It allows us to explore how culture transcends education and how that can be shared as part of this exchange," he said.
Meanwhile, Wellington-based Aotearoa Bharat Economic Foundation (ABEF), which has been facilitating Māori and New Zealand delegations to India since 2016, said the recently concluded FTA could be a turning point for smaller businesses.
The foundation was established in 2015 after its founders, Ram Kumar Bhargava and Tiopira Rauna, identified that Māori businesses were often excluded from trade organisations engaging with India.
"The foundation was created with the objective of strengthening bilateral relations and promoting meaningful collaboration between India and New Zealand and we took delegations to India to connect grassroots level companies in India and New Zealand," ABEF chief executive Kush Bhargava said.
"Big companies can always penetrate the Indian market. For small companies, that's the real challenge."
Kush Bhargava is chief executive of Aotearoa Bharat Economic Foundation. Photo: Supplied
Bhargava said pricing had long been a major barrier.
"The biggest issue was pricing both ways. With the FTA, Indian products can come here and New Zealand products can go to India. It especially helps small companies in New Zealand that now have access to the Indian market," he said.
However, he warned that not all delegations translated into tangible outcomes.
"If you look at the history of the last 15 years, many big delegations meet ministers, take photos and come back. But if you look closely, how many proper businesses have signed MOUs?" he said.
"There's no point taking 50 companies if only 20 are actually eligible to work in India."
The group will arrive in Delhi on 19 January, staying in the capital until 23 January before travelling to Hyderabad from 23-28 January.
They will then visit Bhubaneswar from 29-31 January, before returning to Delhi for their journey back to Auckland.
The visit carries personal significance for Hopa, marking his first trip to India in a decade.
"I'm really looking forward to experiencing that vibrancy in India as Māori," he said.
