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A New Zealand compliance platform and an Indian agricultural data company have formalised a partnership in Auckland, offering an early example of how businesses are seeking to capitalise on opportunities arising from the New Zealand-India free trade agreement.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between QLBS Executive Chair Keith Phillips and Map My Crop Founder and CEO Swapnil "Neal" Jadhav was signed on June 5, marking an early outcome of a week-long visit
to New Zealand by ten Indian agribusiness entrepreneurs under the Asia New Zealand Foundation's New Zealand India Entrepreneurship Initiative (NZIEI).
The agreement was formalised at the Auckland Business Chamber following the NZIEI forum.
The partnership brings together QLBS, a New Zealand-based compliance and visibility platform already integrated into Zespri's kiwifruit supply chain, and Map My Crop, an Indian agritech company with operations in more than 100 countries. Through the collaboration, the two companies aim to explore opportunities to strengthen farm traceability, compliance, and digital innovation across agricultural supply chains.
Map My Crop uses satellite imagery, drones, AI, and mobile connectivity to monitor farmland, generate crop advisories in multiple languages, and process agricultural data at scale.
The deal cuts to the heart of what both companies need from the other. QLBS brings a proven export compliance architecture built to GlobalG.A.P. standards, the global benchmark for good agricultural practice, already embedded in New Zealand's most demanding horticultural supply chains. Map My Crop brings reach into the Indian market, deep local data capability, and the ability to scale technology across a farming sector where individual operators are counted in hundreds of millions.
"We were looking for a GlobalG.A.P. partner for eight to nine months across the world," said Jadhav, "and we didn't imagine we would find that in New Zealand, in another corner of the world."
The connection itself came about through the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
In an interview with Asia Media Centre, Phillips said he had been conducting his own research into potential partners when the delegation was flagged to him. "When it was pointed out to me that I should be talking to the Foundation and being part of this thing, I did a search of the list of people that are coming down, and I saw Map My Crop, and I said, 'We've got to be talking to these guys.'"
"So the Foundation absolutely was the catalyst in making the physical connection between the two players who'd already been thinking about that, which is why we were able to move very quickly and produce an MOU on day one of the tour," he added.
Where Trade Meets Business
The signing comes weeks after New Zealand and India formalised a free trade agreement, a deal that, once ratified, will eliminate tariffs on 95 percent of New Zealand's current exports to India.
Speaking at the forum, Asia New Zealand Foundation Director of Business and Entrepreneurship Tim McCready emphasised the agreement was only one part of the equation.
"A free trade agreement is great and it shows great intent, but what really makes things happen is people," he said.
For QLBS Executive Chair Keith Phillips, the partnership with Map My Crop reflects a longer-term ambition to expand the company's technology into one of the world's largest agricultural markets.
India has more than 1.4 billion people and, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around 70 percent of rural households remain primarily dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. The sector is dominated by smallholders with fragmented land holdings.
Phillips sees the cooperative sector as the most practical entry point for scaling technology. "2025 was the year of the cooperative," he said. "The 14,000 cooperatives in India, if you empower those cooperatives to work on their farms, you're actually starting to move."
The opportunity is significant, but navigating the market requires local knowledge and scale that New Zealand companies often lack.
"You cannot move into India without really understanding the market, without a local partner," Phillips said. "Map My Crop goes beyond that. It's got a global footprint in over 100 countries. We're a smart company dealing in Australia and New Zealand and little patches here and there. Scaling up from New Zealand is very difficult without a technology partner of that kind."
The partnership is also rooted in a shared view of where agricultural compliance is headed. Phillips argues the global certification and compliance industry, currently dominated by companies such as SGS and Bureau Veritas, is overdue for technological disruption.
"They are stuck in the last century in terms of the usage of technology," he said. "The world of the future is going to be one in which there's not an auditor coming in once a year and doing an audit. It continues 24 by 7 because the satellite is passing every day and you're getting information from the internet of things, whether it be the tractors or the ploughs or the cows themselves."
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-Asia Media Centre
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