Ben Kelleher, CEO of ANZ New Zealand
Over the next six weeks, families across the country will grab their hats and sunscreen and head to the cricket. Many will wear two sets of team colours, because when India play the Black Caps plenty of Kiwi households back both sides.
The 12-match tour, the biggest New Zealand Cricket has ever hosted, starts at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Thursday. Two days earlier, on Tuesday, our free trade agreement (FTA) with India, the world's largest democracy and one of its biggest economies, comes into force.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Auckland in July, he and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon were given ANZ "Two Homes" cricket shirts, a symbol of the close connections many in New Zealand's Indian community share with both countries. The number 100 on the back celebrated a century of sporting ties. During that visit, Mr Modi said sport had always been "a strong bridge between India and New Zealand". This summer's tour, along with a host of other sports events, is a chance to make that bridge even stronger.
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(L-R) Former ANZ New Zealand CEO Antonia Watson, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
India has nearly 1.5 billion people. Its economy is growing faster than any other in the G20 and is on track to become the world's third largest by early next decade. Both governments want to double two-way trade to $7 billion by 2030.
The free trade agreement creates a significant opportunity for New Zealand exporters. From Tuesday, 57 per cent of New Zealand's exports to India will be tariff-free, rising to 95 per cent with tariffs cut or removed once the deal is fully in place.
Indian businesses want to know who they're dealing with, and that means visiting more than once. A conversation that starts at a cricket ground in Hamilton can end in a contract in Mumbai.
Sport is also becoming big business in India. A 2024 report by Google and Deloitte estimates its sports economy could be worth US$130 billion by 2030, with up to 10.5 million new jobs. As India invests in high-performance sport and sporting infrastructure, New Zealand has a lot to offer.
Mr Modi saw some of that for himself in Auckland, where some of New Zealand’s best-known athletes demonstrated the technology behind our high-performance sport, including data-gathering canoe racing paddles and shot puts, drag-reducing cycling skinsuits and a custom prosthetic developed for Para cycling. Afterwards, he posted on X: “It was wonderful to see how technology and creativity are shaping the future of sports while bringing our two nations even closer.”
The opportunity extends beyond cricket to include football, hockey, rugby, badminton, athletics and Para sport. Kabaddi, an ancient team tag sport, has moved from village grounds to prime-time television, while women’s cricket, chess and Olympic sports attract bigger crowds, sponsors and ambition. These sports can connect countries and people in ways formal diplomacy often cannot.
Sir Richard Hadlee once said that without India, the face of world cricket would be very different. India is heading the same way in world trade, and New Zealand can't afford to watch from the boundary.
We know how to compete with bigger nations. We've done it on the sports field for more than a century, mostly by preparing well and refusing to give up. We should now bring that same confidence, ambition and competitive edge to our relationship with India.
Getting on the front foot means exporters using the FTA agreement to the full, businesses looking for Indian partners, and universities and sports bodies building links that outlast a single tour. Strengthening our ties with India is smart foreign policy and a sensible economic strategy. It is also how New Zealand stays competitive in a changing world.
This summer, New Zealanders of every background will be in the stands. I'll be hoping the Black Caps win, and that in a few years we look back on this week as the moment two countries that already got on started doing a lot more together.
Ben Kelleher is CEO of ANZ New Zealand. ANZ has sponsored New Zealand Cricket for more than 25 years.