India's planned tour of New Zealand [Images] next year has been postponed until 2008 because of a scheduling clash with the World Cup, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Martin Snedden said on Thursday.

The tour was supposed to take place in February and March 2007 but was rescheduled after the International Cricket Council [Images] (ICC [Images]) switched the start of the World Cup, to be played in the West Indies [Images], from April to March.

"The flow on effect of this ICC decision was to leave insufficient time for the scheduled FTP (Future Tours program) tour of New Zealand by India to take place during the mid February to late March 2007 window originally provided for under the FTP playing programme," Snedden said in a statement.

"Following the ICC's decision NZC and the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) discussed various rescheduling options before finally agreeing that the tour of three tests and five ODIs should take place in December 2008."

Snedden said the scheduling change would not impact on New Zealand's build-up to the World Cup. The Black Caps will play in the Champions Trophy [Images] in October and November this year before hosting Bangladesh in December and January.

They will also compete in a three-way one day international tournament with Australia [Images] and England [Images] in January and February next year before hosting Australia for the Chappell-Hadlee series.