New Zealand athletes with Indian heritage – such as Rachin Ravindra (left) – demonstrate how diaspora communities can be a bridge to deeper India-New Zealand sporting collaborations, says a new report from the India-New Zealand Business Council. Photo / Photosport
The Indian diaspora in New Zealand is among the country’s largest and fastest-growing communities, recently surpassing 270,000 people, according to Stats NZ estimates.
The co-founder of a company of Kiwi cricket luminaries exporting to India has a blunt message for NZ Inc as the spotlight goes on sports diplomacy as a bridge to the potentially massive, but long-neglected, India market.
Former Black Caps fast bowler Geoff Allott, executive director of QualityNZ Group, says chief executives who haven’t been to India for a few years – or not at all because of preconceived notions – need to get there now to see the enormous changes and economic growth. And they should make sure their board directors are on the flight.
Allott says the problem for chief executives comparing India to Europe as a potential destination for their products is that they will make choices on tariffs and barriers to entry and focus on their own 12-month KPIs.
Rethinking this short-term attitude to measuring returns and rewards from India markets would be a “game-changer”.
A trading relationship needs medium to long-term thinking by executives and boards of directors, and a strategic plan that regards the world’s fifth biggest economy as a key market, he says.
Allott and his fellow QualityNZ directors and shareholders, who include cricket greats Stephen Fleming, Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori, and more recently, some New Zealand rugby names, are the voices of experience in thinking long-term about India.
After 12 years of dedication, digging deep into their India and Kiwi sports and business networks to facilitate export of agriculture products and education and recruitment services, their company today has more than 600 customers in 43 cities, and early next year will launch a third enterprise specialising in tourism and travel.
Allott describes the company as “still very small… but poised to become the gateway to India for New Zealand products and services”.
“Shareholders have been very patient,” he says.
Allot believes sports-mad India is starting to take New Zealand “seriously”, thanks not only to the in-country work of our cricketing stars – he says former Black Caps captains Fleming, McCullum and Vettori have “huge reputations” there – but that of Government ministers in the past year.
“Stephen Fleming, [former National Prime Minister] John Key and Brendon McCullum have had significant impacts ... but until quite recently, no New Zealand Prime Minister came into the country. Unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of people understand India needs to be respected before it will do any sort of relationship.
“The frustration is we’ve had to watch a whole lot of other countries come in over the top of us in trade negotiations.”
Allot has advice for Kiwi companies eyeing India’s rich promise.
“Don’t expect that you’re just going to send 50 containers tomorrow and think it’s a ready-made market. The Indians are far smarter than that. You need your brands and you need to prove your product quality and product safety. It’s not a dumping ground for commodities.”
To hear a New Zealand sport-grown company’s commitment to India is now paying off will please the India-New Zealand Business Council, which makes development of sports diplomacy one of the top recommendations in its new report on the (slow) progress of growth in the trade relationship.
Also known as “soft power”, sports diplomacy is probably best explained by Peter Miskimmin, head of sport diplomacy for Crown entity Sport NZ: “Sport diplomacy is about unlocking added value for NZ Inc, New Zealand agencies or New Zealand, by leveraging sporting assets, our sporting people, teams and brands in a way that increases political, economic and social outcomes.”
Miskimmin says next year offers a fertile landscape for leveraging this soft power as the two nations mark 100 years of sporting connections.
The anniversary coincides with tours of New Zealand by the India men’s cricket team and men’s and women’s hockey teams. Before then, the White Ferns, New Zealand’s top women’s cricket team, will play in the World Cricket Cup in India early next year.
Meanwhile, the business council says sports diplomacy is not just a government concern but one where businesses can also benefit.
“New Zealand exporters have long appreciated that a famous national cricketer or rugby icon can help capture a stake in India’s massive market,” says its new report, an update on a 2023 effort that roundly scolded New Zealand for its long neglect of a potentially enormous market.
While noting the current Government’s “much greater interest” in trade with India and “the highly significant and successful” visit this year by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, the report doesn’t pull punches on the work still to be done.
“Looking back on 2024, one could be forgiven for thinking that trade between New Zealand India is in a healthy state. Post-Covid, our exports and imports have both rebounded – albeit not quite to pre-Covid levels. Exports to India especially have risen to the point where exports and imports are nearly the same.
“The future looks bright … or does it?” questions council chairman Bharat Chawla in the foreword.
He notes service exports continue to be dominated by education and tourism and are well down on pre-Covid days. The primary sector did better last year than in 2023 but its performance was still down on 2019, and manufacturing appeared to have had an “excellent” 2024 but most of the growth had been in scrap metal sales.
In comparison, Chawla notes the “meteoric” trade performance of export competitors Australia, Britain and Canada.
“In this time of rising geopolitical tension and uncertainty around US tariffs affecting trading partners including China, why wouldn’t we look to build our relationship with the fifth-largest economy on Earth?”
Noting the two countries shared “a long and rich history”, Chawla concludes New Zealand is “engaging with India with one arm tied behind our back and with only one eye open. We need to do better.”
Along with developing sports diplomacy, the report makes detailed recommendations on how the primary industries, manufacturing, education, tourism and services sectors can build trade with India.
Among the suggested initiatives for improving sporting-based ties: create a specialised unit within government agencies to develop, co-ordinate and oversee sports-focused activities with India; streamline sporting exchanges and visas; promote multi-sport engagements to move beyond cricket to leverage sports like hockey, rugby, kabaddi and badminton as mutual areas of sporting interest; collaborate with community clubs and associations to host joint tournaments or training clinics; use sports personalities in trade missions; invest in the 2026 hockey centenary and link the festivities to economic and tourism objectives to create opportunities for business networking and cultural exchange.
Noting sport’s “unique power to transcend cultural, geographic and political boundaries”, the report says New Zealand should include athlete and coach stars in trade missions and diplomatic visits “so their star power opens doors in India faster than formal channels can”.
It suggests expanding the 2026 hockey centennial into a year-long series of business forums, tourism campaigns and cultural events, observing that hockey came along before cricket linked the two countries, with the Indian Army hockey team touring New Zealand in 1926.
The report draws attention to India’s steadily growing rugby scene, while kabaddi teams in New Zealand were becoming popular with Indian residents. Badminton also was gaining significant momentum among Indian communities in Auckland and Wellington.
“The Indian diaspora in New Zealand is among the country’s largest and fastest-growing communities, recently surpassing 270,000 people, according to Stats NZ estimates.
“This group brings with it a passion for sports ... and often organises community tournaments that strengthen local bonds. In many cases, athletes with Indian heritage – such as Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel – have represented New Zealand at international [cricket] events in India itself, demonstrating how diaspora communities can be a bridge to deeper India-New Zealand sporting collaborations.
“Supporting these athletes, as well as partnering with diaspora-led sports associations, can amplify the scope of bilateral engagement.”