A negotiating team is standing by to rush to India for free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, but slow and steady will win the race, officials say.
Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary John Allen said an FTA was "front and centre" and effort was being put into building relationships.
Deputy secretary Crawford Falconer said India had recently had an election and both the previous and new government had agreed to FTA negotiations, but it had to go through their parliamentary system.
A negotiator and team were ready to go and the ministry was "committed to making it work", he told Parliament's foreign affairs select committee.
However, negotiations would be "very tough".
The Indian economy had taken a long time to look outwards, Mr Falconer said.
"There is still a long way to go by any standards that a developed country, like ourselves, would apply.
"We're used to negotiating with people that are bigger than us."
While working towards a bipartisan agreement, the ministry was also looking at wider Asia regional agreements, he said.
Another area of India-New Zealand relations arose after the Mumbai terrorist attacks last November.
Consular staff were sent from New Delhi to help check on New Zealanders in Mumbai, deputy secretary Caroline Forsyth said.
The ministry had to deal with "three concurrent consular crisis" with the Air New Zealand crash in Perpignan, France, the Mumbai attacks and the Bangkok protests.
Ms Forsyth said a lot of effort had gone into consular training and the responses were good.
