New Zealand's women's cricket tour of India is off.

The team was scheduled to leave for the tour later this month.

However, New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden announced today that he has called the tour off.

Many of the matches on the tour which included a four-day Test and three One-Day Internationals were to take place in northern venues.

"The level of risk which exists here is unacceptable," Snedden said.

"Women's cricket in India is run by the Women's Cricket Association of India, which is entirely separate from, and unsupported by, the BCCI which controls men's cricket in India.

"The Indian Women's Cricket Association is an organisation which has a voluntary administration and few resources.

"It was clear to me that there would be little or no security arrangements in place for the team and no ability to remove the team quickly from a region or out of the country should there be civil unrest or an escalation of military or terrorist activity," he said.

Snedden added that the decision was far more difficult to reach than those involved in cancelling the CLEAR Black Caps tour to Pakistan and the calling home of the New Zealand A team's tour of India.

This was due to the limited opportunities for the women's team to travel and the amount of work the women put in over the winter in preparation for the tour.

It is also something of a blow for the development of the team to defend the World Cup the women won last year when taking out the CricInfo trophy.

With four key players having retired, and more not available this year, the Indian tour was the perfect chance to groom potential successors with a long-term benefit for the game in New Zealand.

Snedden said: "I am aware how devastated some of the players and team management will be at this decision. The women's team has far more limited opportunities to travel than their male counterparts and the players have been preparing throughout the winter for the challenge of competing in India.

"This was not a decision which was taken lightly but at the end of the day I am satisfied this is the right decision at this time."

The players were not canvassed for their opinions on touring.

"This is a team of amateur players. It did not seem right to me for New Zealand Cricket to place any degree of responsibility on the players to make this decision," he said.

Investigations had been made for alternative tours but these were not possible.

New Zealand's only international play this season will be confined to a home and away series with Australia in February-March of three matches each.

© CricInfo