Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Auckland on Friday evening. It's the first visit by an Indian prime minister to New Zealand in 40 years. Our Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, met him at the airport with a formal guard of honour.

Modi is on his way home after visiting Indonesia and Australia. He'll spend Saturday in Auckland doing meetings and then give a public speech at Spark Arena before he leaves.

What's on the agenda?

Luxon and Modi will have bilateral talks on Saturday morning. That means they'll sit down together to discuss issues that matter to both countries. The topics include trade, maritime security, education, technology, tourism, and sport.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins will also meet Modi on Saturday. In the afternoon, Modi is meeting with business and sports figures. The day ends with him speaking to a sold-out crowd at Spark Arena.

Luxon has called the visit "historic." The two leaders also agreed in March 2025 to celebrate 100 years of sporting ties between India and New Zealand in 2026.

The trade deal

There's a free trade agreement between New Zealand and India. This week it passed the first stage in Parliament — the process for approving new laws in New Zealand.

What does it mean? The deal will cut or remove taxes (called tariffs) on most New Zealand goods sent to India. About 95 percent of our exports will get these cuts.

The two countries worked quickly to finish the deal. Luxon and Modi said they wanted to get it done within 60 days when they met in New Delhi in March 2025. They finished it in December. India's government said the deal could make trade between the two countries ten times bigger over ten years.

One problem

Not everyone in New Zealand's government agrees with the deal. Winston Peters is the leader of New Zealand First, a party that is part of the government alongside National and ACT. He says the deal is "neither free nor fair."

Peters is also in charge of Foreign Affairs — meaning his disagreement is significant. The deal is still going through Parliament, so his criticism could matter when other politicians debate it.

Why this visit matters now

Luxon and Modi have met several times in the past year. This isn't totally new, but it is the first official visit by Modi as prime minister. What makes it different is that the public gets to see it. The speech at Spark Arena and the meeting with Hipkins bring the visit into New Zealand's everyday political conversation.

The real question to watch: Will Peters' criticism stay just one disagreement, or will it become a bigger split inside the government? The trade deal has more stages to go through Parliament, and how New Zealand First votes will tell us whether the coalition government is solid on trade decisions.